Dragons and Traitors
by ChargeofOrange
Summary: There have always been those called to action by the Maker, a Hero in Ferelden, A Champion in Kirkwall, and now a Herald at Haven, but there is more to those stories than meets the eye. Even the Maker was accompanied by Andraste, why should there only be one hero in this tale? (New story, title is a work in progress. Rated M: violence, suggestive themes, curses )
1. Chapter One

Chapter 1: And Though I Can't Keep It Together, I Know That You'd Want Me To

 _Eyes sorrow-blinded, in darkness unbroken  
There 'pon the mountain, a voice answered my call.  
"Heart that is broken, beats still unceasing,  
An ocean of sorrow does nobody drown."_

-Canticle of Andraste

Julius

 _"What are you doing? T'would be best to get out of this wretched den of dragons and lunatics as quickly as possible, I would think, and yet, here we are, stopped and sifting through bile..." a dark haired woman spoke sardonically back towards some unknown figures whilst looking at her nails._

 _"Oh no! We made the witch mad at us again! Better watch out guys!" A blond man exclaimed as he came forward in the cavern sarcastically waving his hands around._

 _"Shut up, fool." the woman spat back, her eyes gleaming hatred._

 _"Ah, just let him do his thing, he's never been wrong for hording materials before." A woman with blood red hair spoke, twirling around two longswords as she walked to the front of the group._

 _"Done!" a joyous voice exclaimed._

 _"Finally. Did you really **need** the dragon bile?" The dark haired woman inquired, obviously irritated._

 _"It's for research!" a red haired man retorted, as he walked into view._

 _"Circle mages." the dark haired woman sighed as she rolled her eyes in disgust._

 _"So, uh, how do we get out of here now?" The blond man questioned, ignoring the dark haired woman now._

 _"This way, follow me." The red haired woman said, pushing forth into the cavern._

Blinking his eyes open, he awoke dazed. It was dark, and cold, and wet, and hard where he laid. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up trying to figure out where he was and how he had gotten there, as well, what was that strange dream? Who were those people? As for where he was, he remembered falling... Haven! Corypheus! Abigail! Where was Abigail!? He desperately looked around him, his hand glowing green and giving faint light to the cavern he had fallen into, but there were no traces of anyone else there, just the dimly reflected image of himself given from the icy walls.

"Maybe she's up ahead..." he muttered as he hoisted himself up to his feet, gritting his teeth as he clutched his right side, blood starting to dribble from the freshly reopened wound.

Continuing to hold his side in a vain attempt to keep his wound sealed while holding his right hand before him to shed some light on the path, he trudged along forward, hoping to find Abigail or at least an exit. He stumbled along for a ways until he came to a larger chamber within the cave. The chamber was home to three despair demons, wailing their haunting dirge. He knew it would only be a moment until they realized he was there, so quickly he surveyed the room, looking for an escape route or better, a weapon to defend himself, his sword and shield having been lost when he fell. He was still searching when they noticed him and turning their cold eyes upon him, they shrieked and swarmed around him, chilling the air further with their ice. He dodged the first icy blast, but the second and third caught him in their chilling tempest. Pinning him to his hands and knees, the three continued their onslaught, they would only be sated by his death. Both hands now on the ground, his side wound streamed blood as did his head blurring his vision further with red. The cold enveloping him and the loss of blood started to take hold, as he could feel his grip on consciousness slipping.

"After it all, am I to die here, like this?" he thought, starting to give in and give up.

"Julius!" a voice rang through his head, startling him back to the world.

"Abigail?" he questioned as he lifted his eyes to look, but she was not there, and had never been. "No, I won't give up..." he grumbled as he glared down at the floor. A throbbing pain shot through the mark in his right hand, and glancing at it, he could see the mark surged with magical energy. The pain continued to grow as the sparks of energy flurried about his hand, he hadn't even noticed that the ice from the demons was no longer affecting him. Rising back upon his knees, he gripped his right wrist with his left hand as the magic sparked and hissed. Then suddenly, the magic burst upward from his hand into the air destroying the demons and gleaming through the cavern.

"What in Andraste's name was that?" he finally whispered after staring in dumbfounded wonder for a few minutes. "I should tell Solas about that, I guess." He reasoned as he stood again, continuing to examine his hand. Ripping the bottom of his pants, he made a makeshift bandage for his side, and he pressed on. Soon, he was at the mouth of the cavern, looking out into the snow covered mountains of Ferelden. Stepping out into the deep snow and biting wind, he could see the smoke still rising from the ruins of Haven, a piteous sight.

"They must have gone this way." He surmised, trekking deeper into the mountains. He continued to wade slowly through the snow for miles, his side was again spewing blood, leaving a crimson trail behind him. Wolves howled around him, keeping out of sight just behind the trees, creeping closer behind him with every drop of blood that fell. He wasn't worried about the wolves though, he was more concerned with finding any trace that anyone had passed through this way. Finally in the distance he could see a faint light, mustering his strength, he waded through the snow as fast as he could toward it. Upon arriving to where the glimmer of light had originated, he found that is was the smoldering remains of a campfire. It couldn't have been terribly long since its creators had left it and the howls of the wolves grew closer the longer he paused to look at the ashes. He kicked snow over the fire, he couldn't risk the enemy following him even though there was the distinct chance that he was following the enemy's trail and not that of his comrades. With the wind and snow sweeping away and covering any evidence of footprints, he had to hope he was following the Inquisition's path and not the enemy's. Along he roamed, ever upward into the mountains, ever followed by the wolves howls.

He had no way of knowing how many hours he had been slogging along, but one thing was for certain, his numbed legs could not take too much longer. He was determined to continue until he could no longer, and the wolves he knew hoped his legs would give out soon, they crept along within sight a distance behind him. He could feel himself fading in and out as he trudged forward, his legs beginning to feel like dead weight beneath him. He saw a small passage through the mountains, if he could make it just a bit further, he might be able to see some sign that the Inquisition had passed through there. It was just a bit further... He pushed himself to continue, swinging his right leg forward, then slowly following with his left, inching, creeping forward. He could hear the wolves start to boldly move forward, no longer concerned with caution. His legs folded beneath him, and into the snow he collapsed. Using his arms, he attempted to crawl forward, but his strength had abandoned him, and he fell face down into the snow. Unable to move any longer he knew then that the wolves would feast this night. He could hear the wolves rapid footsteps getting closer, he was hoping he might pass out before they began eating him alive, but that too seemed to be beyond his reach. Then he heard the footsteps stop, but he couldn't tell why until he heard a familiar voice shout, "It's the Herald! We found him! Alert the Commander!" Then darkness took him.

 _The mountains were cold and dark, and only the moon and stars shown, The Breach absent from the sky. He watched as wisps appeared before him, vague shapes of soldiers marched forward, their armor fading in and out of sight along with their forms. They all pushed deeper into the mountains, and he could see the faint glimmer of torches being carried further along in a trail through the range. Where were they going? What lied ahead? Why was he seeing this? "Follow." he heard a voice in his head demand._

"We can reach out to Orlais, the Empress, she can-" Josephine began, but was interrupted by a very agitated Cullen.

"Orlais!? That's your idea? Contact the Empress who can't even control her own nobles? No. We won't be indebted to Orlais or its useless empress for-"

"Commander, don't yell at her because you cannot fathom the idea of asking Orlais for help, at least she is trying to come up with a solution and not tearing down whatever idea comes up simply based on some Ferelden prejudice." Leliana cut him off, glaring as if to address that he was in the presence of at least one very capable Orlesian.

"Enough, the fighting is getting us nowhere!" Cassandra finally burst, silencing them for a moment.

"Well, that isn't true, it is getting me a headache." the Herald said, as he stumbled over towards the arguing advisers.

"My lord Trevelyan!" Josephine exclaimed as she stood up, shocked to see him awake.

"Whoah! The healers said to take it easy!" Cullen chided as he steadied the stumbling man and lowered him to sit.

"We did not expect you to be awake so soon, lord Julius." Leliana bemused, a hint of respect from the proud spymaster.

"Where is Abigail? Where is my sister?" He asked, and as he saw Josephine look down, and saw the uncomfortable alteration in Cullen's demeanor, as well as the shift in posture from Cassandra, he knew the answer.

"We do not know. We had hoped you were together. Not long before we found you, our sentries saw a green light in the snow plain behind us, which is why we were able to reach you before the wolves did. We guessed it was one of you two, but we had hoped it was the both of you, and as it turned out we guessed correctly." Cassandra stated plainly, not one to coddle.

"So, she's still back there?" Julius asked, attempting to stand and turn.

"You aren't well enough to mount a rescue, Herald." Cullen asserted, placing his hand firmly on the Herald's shoulder and forcing him to stay put.

"If not me, then who will though?" Julius spat back, glaring into Cullen's eyes. Cullen looked away, a tinge of sadness flickered in his eyes, as Josephine pleaded, "My lord Herald, we will search for her, but we must also think of our people here. We can't risk the lives of the men, women, children, and elderly who we have borne this far safely."

Julius looked around, seeing the defeated faces of the hungry, tired, and broken people of the Inquisition and realized he had acted too rashly, he also couldn't disagree with Josephine's earnest eyes.

"I- you're right. I should think more before I speak. My apologies." He stated, almost reciting the phrase as though he had said it countless times to a strict teacher.

"Rest, Herald, we will have to move soon." Cassandra declared, pointing back to the healer's tent from whence he had emerged.

He nodded, and did as bid, returning to the tent to be met by Mother Giselle. He bit his tongue on seeing her, what wonderfully flat words of encouragement would it be this time? What dribble about the faithful being rewarded would it be now? How could she even speak about the blessing of the Maker now? How was any faith ever rewarded? What had either of them ever done to be rewarded with this, a literal darkspawn magister trying to kill them for having a magic glowing mark on their hands? Their whole lives were over the moment they were born, even before all this, but oh, yes, this must be some divine plan enacted by a just and holy Maker who can do no wrong, and who rewards those who love him. Bullshit. He didn't want to hear anything she had to say about the Maker or anything else.

"You look weary of heart, Herald." She voiced in her calming way.

"Well, after we shot down a mountainside on our heads trying to kill a fucking myth and then climbing up the backside of a damn mountain range, yeah, I am a bit weary." He bit back, not able to contain his temper.

"You have faced many trials tonight, and more will come. I will continue to pray for Lady Abigail and her safe return." Mother Giselle continued to remain calm and seemed to ignore his temper.

"What good will praying do? Can you even pray for a mage!? Besides the Maker has forsaken us! That's in your Chant of Light, remember!? That's- It's the only part worth believing in the whole... thing." He choked, his frustration and anger causing his eyes to well up.

"The Maker will reward the-" She began to recite but was cut off.

"If the Maker rewarded his faithful, why did all this happen!? Why are there crying mothers telling their children why their father isn't ever coming home again? Why are there parents mourning their sons and daughters who died at Haven!? Where is His reward for The Inquisition!? For Abigail!? ...where... is Abigail...?" He covered his face in his hands so no one would see him break. Cullen stared down at his own boots, cursing himself for failing yet another place he'd vowed to protect, let alone the people he'd sworn to protect there. Josephine looked upward towards the sky, attempting to look like she wasn't in tears thinking about all that had happened. Leliana sat with folded hands, looking darkly into the fire, what burned in her mind only the Maker knew. Cassandra paced about uneasily, unsure of what to do.

"The Maker did not make the dawn so there would be no night, and he did not make the night without the promise of the dawn. The faithful here were already rewarded when they saw you return, they were without hope, seeing a terrible evil strike down their Heralds, and yet, you came back to them. You must pass through the night for the dawn to come, I have faith you will see." She said, standing up. She placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him as she began singing a familiar Chantry hymn, "The Dawn Will Come". Julius looked between his fingers to see that Cullen, Josephine, Leliana, Cassandra, and pretty much every other member of the Inquisition began to join in the chorus. Only Solas seemed to not join in, he looked confused by the song, as though he had never heard it, being an apostate elf, he may not have ever heard it. Strangely though, the song did give comfort to Julius and he began to look to the mountain path he had seen the wisps traveling before in his dream, and he could still clearly hear the voice telling him, "Follow."

Abigail

 _Gripping, grasping, clawing, she could feel the spirits trying to pull her deeper into the darkness. She could hear the grotesque sounds of tortured spirits being transfigured into horrid demons, demons of despair, pride, fear, and all manner of the lesser demons of darkness and corruption. Frantically she ran, trying to escape the tumultuous spirits and demons, but in the darkness her steps got her no further, as though she was running in place. Desperate for escape, she reached her left hand forward, and the mark upon it released a blinding blast of green light, forcing her to close her eyes. When she opened them, she was in a torchlit cavern. She looked around in wonder trying to figure out where she was when she felt something wet drip onto her head. She reached her hand out in an attempt to catch whatever had dripped, and she caught 3 crimson drops of blood. Horrified, she looked up to see the roof of the cavern was covered in blood, and then the sides and the floor began to ooze forth blood as well. She then heard the stifling screams of untold legions, crying out in pain, their death knell deafening her. Soon the pooling blood was up to her knees, and she tried to run through the cave to another chamber, but the claws of shades rising from the blood had grasped her cloak and were pulling her down._

 _"Let go!" She cried, shooting fire magic back at the demons grasping her, forcing them to release their grip. Running into the next chamber as soon as she was freed, she saw her brother on his hands and knees surrounded by darkness._

 _"Julius!" She shouted, her marked hand outstretched trying to reach him. Suddenly, her marked hand shot out a powerful green gleam of magic, and the cavern disappeared. She was now alone in some ruins in the center of the mountains. Beneath her feet was rough hewn and worn stone tiles that formed a pathway towards a corridor deeper into the tallest mountain. To her right there was a small amphitheater with an old brass gong on the edge of it. "What is that for?" she mused to herself absently, but then a thunderous sound behind her caught her attention. Behind her in the paved clearing landed a massive High Dragon, steam billowing from her nose into the air. She looked in wide eyed wonder at the gigantic beast, her eyes meeting the dragons, some unfathomable force had paralyzed her, she could not move or turn away. The two stared into each others eyes for what seemed like an eternity, the dragon finally breaking eye contact and opening her maw to unleash a hellish fire from within. The flames engulfed her, but she couldn't cry out or even make a sound as she fell to the ground. Through the flames, however, she saw a figure approaching. It was a man in heavy armor, she could hardly see him now, but she got the distinct impression he was smirking._

It was warm and bright, her eyes were having a hard time adjusting to the light from the fire.

"Ugh." she vocalized as she rubbed her eyes and attempted to sit up, placing weight on her right arm, she cried out in pain, but did manage to come to a seated position.

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Your arm is broken." An unfamiliar man's voice said behind her.

"A Red Templar!?"she thought as she stiffened. Throwing her left hand back towards the voice, she brought forth a wave of magic fire with her. A firm hand caught her wrist and she let out a frightened peep, her spell had missed its intended target, and now she was in no position to counter.

"I wouldn't do that either." The man stated, his voice in a harsh tone.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" She meekly asked, expecting the man to break her arm or harm her in some other way.

"Name's Liam. And all I want from you, your Heraldiness, is for you to calm down and think. If I was your enemy you would already be dead. Plus, I wouldn't have bothered to use about 5 Elfroot potions on you either, nor would I have attempted to set your arm, right?" The man explained, his tone settling down as he placed her arm down gently.

"I- I am sorry. Forgive my rashness." She whispered mildly, she had been a fool to not assess the full situation and see her bandages.

"All forgiven! Now, I see you are well enough to cast magic, so how about standing?" Liam replied back, unfazed and extending a hand out to her. Upon taking his hand and standing, she realized just how gigantic her new acquaintance was. He stood as tall as a Qunari, but he appeared human. He had messy blood red hair with rough sideburns down the side of his face along with an unshaven shadow running along his cheeks to his chin. His eyes gleamed a haunting red, she had never seen such eyes on a human before. Was he human, or something else? Maybe he was an Avvar? That might explain the height, but those eyes were still so strange.

"Done?" He asked, smirking at her for staring so long at him.

"Sorry." She apologized as her face grew flushed.

"Don't worry about it, I get it all the time." He blew it off lightly.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking back to see a towering fire a ways behind them.

"Ah, used to be Haven, now, it's just ashes." He said flippantly, waving his hand behind him.

"The Inquisition! My brother! Cullen!" She gasped, clutching her chest with her left hand.

"Cullen...? Well, well. No, didn't see him. He wasn't here when I arrived, nobody was. I found you buried under the remains of a trebuchet, figured you were dead. You weren't somehow, but I didn't find any other survivors. Been burning the bodies since yesterday when I got here, didn't want them all to reanimate 'cause of the hole in the sky." Liam explained, pointing his thumb back towards the great fire, which she now knew was a funeral pyre.

"You didn't see my brother's body did you? He is about average height, kinda muscular build, blond hair shaved on the sides, green eyes, with a scar on his face going across his left eye and into his hairline and another scar on his nose going up and across?" She asked and then added holding up her left hand, "He has a mark on his right hand like mine."

"No, I didn't see the other Herald. I would have told you if I did. You didn't have to go into detail about him." He retorted shaking his head as he doused the campfire. "Now, we need to get you back to your people, right? So let's go, uh... What's your name?"

"Abigail." She replied and then hopefully inquired, "So you know where they are? The Inquisition, I mean."

"Not a clue. But I know someone who should know." He responded, turning on his heels and heading into the dark forest followed closely by Abigail.

Authors Notes: Well, you survived the first chapter, I will attempt to reformulate the layout for the next chapter to be a bit better, I know this one sucked. In vase you didnt realize it, the italics denote a dream sequence... Also, just bear with me on the plot. I wanted to do a fanfic on Inquisition, but I hate starting at the beginning (who wants to read or write 18 chapters on the Hinterlands? not me.) so I started at the fall of Haven. Yes, this story is about 2 Inquisitors. Yes, I know that makes things more complicated, that is why we are re-writing it (which means I will change whatever I want, you can't stop me, plus, it is a fanfic, so I may change things according to my own headcanon, again, you cannot stop me.) This is a co-written fanfic, so our updates may be slow sometimes, okay? Like Hafter's Woods, just bear with it. Each of us took the creative liscense on one of the Inquisitors, and also the other OCs, feel free to try to figure out which ones are done by which, haha. (That will make more sense later...) Love to see what you have to say, and enjoy reading the next Chapter next week! Charge out.

I reformatted this one finally! Ew, it was harsh before. Sorry for that.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter 2: I Promised You Everything Would Be Fine

 _In the absence of light, shadows thrive_

-Canticle of Threnodies

Abigail

"So, where are we going? I mean, I know we are in Ferelden, but where in Ferelden are we going?" Abigail questioned Liam, walking backwards before him. She had gotten quite accustomed to traveling with him now, it had been days since they had left the ruins of Haven. Her arm was still bandaged, but she had managed to heal the fracture. She had learned healing at the Ostwick Circle, but her skills weren't good enough for her to be a combat healer, it took too much of her concentration and effort for her to cast effectively or with any speed. Around a campfire, however, and with time, she could cast a healing spell or two. Liam had proven to be a capable fighter, defeating a few bandits they had met along the way. He brandished a huge ax, which he swung around as though it were nothing, which was honestly terrifying, but at least he was on her side, for now anyway. She really couldn't get a read on him or where his loyalties lied, he seemed to do whatever he wanted without any thought further about it. She still believed he was some part Avvar from his size and choice of weaponry, but he had a strange accent, it was Ferelden, but also somehow different, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. His voice interrupted her internal monologue, making her jump from surprise.

"Denerim. Now, could you tell me that last part again, something about an evil monster?" Liam smirked back, his smile looking menacing but happy at the same time.

"Denerim? Why are we going to the capital city of Ferelden? What is in Denerim that can help us?" She puzzled aloud but Liam simply twirled his finger in a gesture for her to continue and tell him the information he had requested. "Well, we were attacked by Corypheus-"

"Old news, done with him, it's the next part." Liam waved off the news of one of the original magisters who corrupted the Maker's Throne being alive and out to destroy the world so easily, it was beyond Abigail's comprehension, just who was this man?

"Oookay, um, Cole said that the dragon Corypheus attacked alongside of was an Archdemon...?" She continued, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Aha! That's it! An Archdemon. We are going to figure out where the Inquisition dispersed to and get you some help in defeating an Archdemon. And it isn't a _**what**_ in Denerim, it is a _**who**_. We're going to Denerim to meet with a person, _ **who**_ can help _**you**_ , not an _**us**_ situation, _**I**_ am helping already and _**I**_ don't need help, _**you**_ do." Liam corrected as he walked past Abigail who had stopped, trying to figure out who in Denerim could help them.

"Aha! The Queen! The Hero of Ferelden! We're going to get her help!" Abigail gasped excitedly her eyes getting wide in anticipation.

"Nope. Next best thing. Now, c'mon, we can make it by nightfall if we pick up the pace!" Liam shouted back as he rushed ahead.

"Who could that be?" Abigail sighed deflated as she ran along behind trying to catch up.

Julius

At the end of their long march through the mountains, they happened upon a gigantic fortress deep in the mountainside. Solas had said it was called "Skyhold", he didn't give any hints how he knew that or why though. This was the place where the wisps had led to, and Julius had done as the voice had asked and followed, but why was he led here? What was this place?

"The gate seems to be in working order, Commander!" a soldier yelled down from the top of the wall.

"Open it!" Cullen ordered, and it was done. Walking inside, the walls seemed stable and although there was dry-rotted wood broken on the ground, most of the structure was unharmed. Immediately the soldiers began assessing the defenses with Cullen leading them. All other hands were put to use clearing the rotted wood and opening blocked or closed passages.

Abigail

"Something, something, grateful something. ...Wait. Did you just write that? You scribes do this on purpose, don't you?" He huffed, shooing the scribe from the room, he'd had enough for the day. Pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand, he sighed, exasperated. Looking up at a portrait of a lady with crimson hair, he voiced aloud, "Why make me king and then just leave me here all alone...?"

"Aw, but I'm here for you, Ali-bear!" Liam interjected, as he threw open the door.

"Ha-wh- what are you doing here!?" Alistair gaped as Liam slid to the side to reveal the dark haired woman behind him. Abigail waved her marked hand in greeting as a small unsure smile crept onto her face, internally she was screaming.

"...the Herald? Why are you here? I thought you were up in the mountains at that fortress...?" Alistair puzzled. This was going to be a long night...

Julius

The fortress was massive, it could easily hold the army of The Inquisition. It took days to get it in order, even with Josephine arranging the help of stone masons, carpenters, and the other trades to clear and repair the damage the years of neglect had done. One couldn't help but marvel at it, and Julius was still marveling as he walked through with Josephine.

"Cullen says the defenses are progressing steadily, he has scouts placed further down the mountain so we will have plenty of warning of an attack by our enemies. Leliana is still gathering up her spies that were scattered when Haven was attacked, but she says she should be 'back on schedule' in a few days. Lord Trevelyan, we are almost ready to host our noble guests, I am working on obtaining a few more polite comforts, but we should be able to host our supporters presently. Establishing trade routes here has been trying, but I think I may have managed to convince the Avvar to help us build up the route, they are interested in potential new trade routes here as well. My lord Trevelyan? Is something on your mind?" Josephine stopped her dissertation once she noticed that Julius seemed lost in his own thoughts.

"What has Leliana heard from Haven?" He inquired. It had been days since his outburst at Mother Giselle, but it hadn't been forgotten by any of his advisers.

"Her scouts reported that they had found what appeared to be a mass pyre where the bodies of the dead had been burned. It was only ashes by the time they arrived. It is still unclear who burned the bodies, or the identities of whom were burned in the pyre." Josephine spoke cautiously, she did not want to upset the Herald.

"Thank you. I am glad things are progressing so quickly. Do carry on, I shall take my leave." He walked away as he eloquently dismissed himself. He had been collected and a bit cold since that night on the mountainside, but everyone knew the cold exterior belied an inner turmoil. At night he would stare out over the cold mountains into the darkness, Maker only knows what he thought about, so Cullen had an extra guard watch him at night, "to prevent any tragedies" as he had put it. He had seen men swallowed by despair before, and he had seen his fair share of the drastic measures they took to alleviate their suffering. Josephine shuddered to think about it. No one knew what to say, not even her, and most everyone avoided him, most of all, Cullen. They hadn't spoken since that night, and had hardly been in the same room since then. Josephine knew it was because Cullen felt guilt over not being prepared enough and forcing both Julius and Abigail to stay and face Corypheus alone. The truth was, they all felt guilt over what had happened, Cullen, Leliana, and herself. She wished she could bring Abigail back, but there was nothing she could do...

"I'm sorry, lord Trevelyan." Josephine whispered as she watched him walk further away inside the castle.

"Well, I'd have said that before he left, dear." A voice stated from behind her.

"M-my lord Pavus! I- I did not know you were there! Forgive my rudeness!" Josephine jumped in surprise and then tried to hastily apologize so Dorian would not notice how flustered she was from embarrassment.

"Do call me Dorian, dear ambassador. Though, watching him walk away is rather enchanting, isn't it?" Dorian had a cruel smile on his face as he teased her, his smile growing as her face grew more red.

"I must be going, excuse me, ser." Josephine said, curtsying and hastily retreating.

"Ah, such a theatrical performance. I shall have to set the stage more often." Dorian bemused to himself.

Abigail

"An Archdemon?" Alistair gaped as he sat, fixing his hand over his mouth, his eyes looking deeply into the floor. "Well, that would explain some things..."

"Yup, controlled by a darkspawn magister, how about that? Sounds right up your alley, don't it?" Liam teased, getting an angry response from Alistair.

"Just what is so amusing about an Archdemon!? We're still recovering from the last one 10 years ago!" He shouted at the red head.

"Aw c'mon, you killed the last one, you can do it again." Liam dismissed.

"I had substantial help! I wasn't the only one there!" Alistair protested.

"Leliana's with The Inquisition, and they have plenty of people as well. I hear Varric is with them too, you know Varric, right? Plus, I'll be there, plenty of help." Liam again dismissed Alistair's protests.

"Do you even understand what it takes to kill an Archdemon? What you are actually asking?" Alistair shot back, looking Liam in the eyes.

"Nope. I missed the last one. But I'm sure you do, so let's wrap this up and get going, okay?" Liam met Alistair's glare as he spoke.

"You know what, I'd rather not go through that again, no. No. Nope. Not thinking about it. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts... Now, get out of my palace." Alistair stated as he stood and shook his head, pointing to the door. Instead of either of his visitors moving however, they both just stared at him. Liam stared disinterestedly, but the Herald, she stared intently, finally reaching her hand up and pointing at him saying, "Um, your majesty, you're, um, bleeding..." Reaching up, he felt the wet blood dripping from his nose.

"Well, damn." Alistair said, grabbing a handkerchief to stifle his bloody nose. Now, Liam was interested, but he chose to let the Herald ask questions.

"Are... you alright?" She questioned hesitantly.

"Fit as a fiddle. I'd be better if you would both kindly leave like I said. Hate to have you escorted out." He replied, drawing an amused look from Liam.

"Really? Escort me out? You know better." Liam laughed.

"Um... Does your nosebleed have anything to do with what you said about 'that would explain some things'...?" Abigail inquired, a real look of concern on her face, she knew something wasn't right, now Liam gave a hard look at Alistair.

"Um...No." Alistair attempted to lie, poorly.

"Spill." Liam said gruffly, he was done talking in circles now.

"Do either of you know what The Calling is for Grey Wardens?" Alistair inquired, his demeanor dead serious.

"When they hear voices and go get themselves killed by darkspawn?" Liam responded.

"Yes. Basically, that's it, except it means that their tainted blood is killing them, so they can either die a sane person, or become a deranged ghoul. Well... I've been hearing it for a bit now, and every day it gets worse. An Archdemon and a darkspawn magister could be a cause behind the Calling happening so soon, or my time is up, no way of knowing, right? The nosebleeds are a recent thing, isn't that lovely? And here I thought I'd just hear some evil song in my head, but no, I get bloody noses too, wonderful, right? Ah, the joys of being a Grey Warden." Alistair attempted to joke to lighten the mood, talking about serious life and death matters wasn't really his forte. Abigail looked at her feet, tears welling up in her eyes.

"A song, huh? Where have I heard that before...?" Liam mumbled to himself.

"It's not fair! You quit being a Warden! Why do you have to go through The Calling?" Abigail exclaimed, tears falling down her face.

"Well, it's not like you hand in your shield and say goodbye and you stop being one. Once a Grey Warden, always a Grey Warden, you know that when you join. I would have rather just stayed a Warden than become King, much less headache, though now more figuratively than literally." Alistair explained, a bit caught off guard by the woman's tears, was she really that upset about it?

"Well, if you don't like being king, then why not get out of here and come with us? Can't hurt, right?" Liam suggested, and really, there wasn't much point to staying and then dying from The Calling opposed to actually going off and doing what other Grey Wardens did and fight until death took them. Also, an Archdemon was cause enough for a king to get involved with The Inquisition, right?

"Sorry, dear, but you aren't here to stop me!" Alistair smiled as he looked back to the portrait he was looking at when the two had walked in. "My uncle Teagan should be here in the morning, I need to leave instructions for him and my adviser Eamon. ...Oh, man, he's gonna be furious when he finds out, haha."

"Yeah! Just leave a country for your uncle to watch over, that'll be fine! At least it ain't my uncle!" Liam and Alistair shared a good laugh, leaving Abigail to wonder, just how had this man become king again? Ferelden was strange...

Julius

Staring out into the darkness, he ignored the soldier that was keeping a close watch on him, instead he was thinking back to when he and Abigail had woken up at Haven after the explosion of the conclave. He hadn't seen her in years at that point, not since she had been dragged away to the Ostwick Circle. He was so glad they both survived the explosion, and for the first time in a long time, he almost believed the Maker actually did care. They were both so terrified of the green mark on their hands, but he was just content to have a chance to be with his sister again after being separated by his father so many years ago. He even promised her that she wouldn't have to go back to the Circle, she could stay with him and live freely. He'd missed too much of her life already, but then, he was also grateful she hadn't been in that house all those years either. She got to keep her innocence, locked away in the Circle, he almost wished he had been a mage too, so much suffering could have been avoided. And again, here he was, alone. He never could keep any of the promises he made to her, he was a sorry excuse for a twin brother. He laid his head down on the cold stone wall, closing his eyes and trying to think of a happier time, only to realize he couldn't.

"Crumbled, like the buildings made of stone and iron. Life freely given to protect, not taken in return, always another. The emptiness grows inside, darker than the voices in the tower. Why her?" Cole said, startling Julius slightly.

"Who?" Julius asked, he had been around Cole enough to know he was "reading" someone. Cole outstretched his hand and pointed down to Cullen who continued to go over reports in the dull light of a lantern.

"Cullen, huh?" Julius remarked. He knew he had lashed out at him unfairly, but he didn't know if he could apologize or how to either.

"Failure. Blood covers the hands, staining them, cannot wash it off. Her song is sad. She has all the names. Her song is sadder." Cole recited as he pointed to Leliana now.

"Hmmmm. I think I see where you are going with this." Julius grumbled, he was pretty sure Cole was trying to show him the inner turmoil of the advisers and prove that they needed his help and get him to stop running from his leadership responsibilities. Cole could be a bit invasive at times, and also stubborn.

"All the words are lost, empty, like a pond in the drought, she wants to fill it, but her voice is gone, the cold winds drove it away." Cole pointed to Josephine this time, she was up at a late hour tonight. They all were. Preparing, working, slaving away through the night and wearing themselves out to try to make up for their perceived faults and failures in defending Haven and the Inquisition. He knew he had to make it right.

"Okay, Cole. I understand now. I know I need to help them. I will-" Julius began to explain, but Cole pointed to one more person and said, "Old friends. Sadness like a sickness growing, gnawing, tearing away. Fear that death will follow. Apologies lost inside, too many words, never enough."

"Varric?" Julius questioned, but Cole was now done, as he hopped down off the wall and began to wander away.

"Wait! What did that mean!?" Julius shouted after him, hoping he might actually give a straight answer, to which Cole simply replied.

"Champion."

A/N: So, I realize, the first upload of this chapter was jacked up... So Sorry about that... Um, I think this chapter is pretty self- explanatory... so... yeah... I liked it, let me know what you think, and hey! I updated on a Tuesday again! 2 straight weeks on time! ...I'm fighting writer's block something fierce... Switched the genre to drama and romance, since I didn't want to focus as much on trekking through the adventures and retelling the same missions over and over again... so, yeah, more focus on the human (or otherwise) element of the story. We shall learn more about our people in the future! And nah, I don't own Dragon Age, blah blah blah.

Reformatted for your convenience! Ta-da!


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter 3: I Used To Think That The Day Would Never Come

 _"If you would live, and live without fear, you must fight."_

-Canticle of Shartan

Abigail

"So, there we were, miles underground, surrounded by darkspawn on all sides, they were even behind us at that point, so no matter what, we would have to go back through darkspawn, spiders, and deepstalkers. We really had no choice but to keep going because when Orzammar dwarves can't pick a king, they choose the most ridiculous and impossible solution. 'Oh, just go find that crazy Paragon and let her arbitrarily decide, but she's probably dead, so we won't actually get anything decided either, but hey, you'll die trying to find her, so then we don't have to deal with you, win-win for us, really.' And yeah, that is pretty much exactly how they decide that, just so you know. Anyway, Zephyr, Maker's Breath, but I love her, she decided that this was a great way to spend our time, and of course we all followed along, I mean, why not? But I guess our motto was 'do so or die trying' back then. She's still like that in some ways...

So, like I said, there we were, a few Grey Wardens, a Qunari, a chantry sister, an assassin, a mage who wanted to be everyone's mother, a living Golem, a witch, an inappropriate, drunk dwarf, and a Mabari, wandering into the depths of the damn Deep Roads, all 11 of us. We had slogged through so much darkspawn filth and old ruins, we had to have been down there for 3 or 4 days at this point, little rest in between killing things, and we cross this bridge. The bridge that is _**literally crumbling**_ as we walk over it and that has a darkspawn legion marching underneath it. We cross it, kill a few straggling darkspawn, and Zephyr, she wants to set up camp and rest for a bit because the dog is tired. Not because me, or Leliana, or Ja- No, it is because Brisket, the Mabari, was tired. So we did, I have no idea how anyone slept, I didn't, but the rest of that adventure is a much longer story for another time. That is the best 'dog-loving Ferelden' story I know. Stopping in the Deep Roads to let the dog sleep in the middle of the 5th Blight." Alistair concluded his rambling story, much to Abigail's disbelief and Liam's amusement.

"Y'know, I'm not even sure I can beat that story. I honestly don't know if I have ever heard a better 'dog-loving Ferelden' story. All hail the king." Liam relented, conceding defeat with a bow to Alistair, who gloated confidently.

"Um, guys? There's a rift nearby." Abigail stated out of the blue, disrupting the merriment.

"How can you tell?" Alistair asked, dumbfounded.

"Because of this." Abigail replied, holding up her marked hand which sparked with energy. "I think this rift might be a big one, judging from this reaction."

They soon heard the thunderous sound of a Pride demon stomping about as they approached the area where the rift should be.

"Great. A Pride demon." Alistair remarked dryly, just then they came to the clearing where the rift was, and saw more than just one Pride demon.

"Great. Two Pride demons." He continued. "So, what is the plan of attack?"

"Don't die." Liam suggested as he drew his ax and charged the nearest Pride demon.

"That is NOT a plan!" Alistair shouted as he also madly rushed into battle with Liam.

Abigail laughed a nervous laugh as she watched her two insane companions run off to fight two Pride demons, the last time she had faced a Pride demon, there was only 1 and they had a small force of soldiers helping to bring it down, not only 3 people. "I think he still has the 'do so or die trying' mentality... " she declared, half laughing, half crying.

Julius

"I don't know what I should do. I was out of line, and I don't want them to work themselves to death because of my anger, or feel like I don't trust them, or hate them, or blame them, or whatever! But what do I say...?" Julius spoke, motioning with his hands dramatically.

"How 'bout, 'I'm an idiot ass, I meant to be mean to Coryphetwit, but was mean at you guys instead. I got a glowy, magic hand!' and everything is better, yeah? Ya don't hav'ta make it a deal, 'kay?" Sera responded, not understanding why this was a problem and why Julius always refused to use the easy solution.

"Yeah, 'I got a glowy hand' is not going to solve this..." Julius retorted back, giving Sera the side eye.

"I bet it would with Josie, depending on how ya use it." Sera replied back with an evil grin.

Julius was about to respond, finger pointed and mouth agape, but Varric interrupted, rubbing his neck and saying, "Hey, uh, if you get a chance, can you, um, meet me up on the battlements? It's sort of important."

"Guess you'll be off to that then. Too bad." Sera stated while walking away making inappropriate gestures with her hands. Julius smirked, shaking his head at her antics.

Abigail

A whip of lightning magic surged toward him, but was deflected at the last second by a shield. Liam, nodded his thanks to Alistair for his cover, then swung his ax around in a circle above his head, swinging it down hard once it had gained enough momentum, severing the hand off the Pride demon. It roared in pain, and stumbled back, just in time for both Alistair and Liam to see the other Pride demon sending a surge of electricity straight at them. Alistair held his shield firm, and tilting it slightly as Templars are taught, he deflected the bolt. Liam had jumped right to dodge the attack, and in doing so had placed the wounded Pride demon between himself and Alistair.

"Nice! I forget you have Templar training too!" Liam shouted, hoisting his ax to his shoulder in preparation for his next attack.

"I forget how chatty you two are while fighting!" Alistair rebutted, thrusting his sword at the unharmed Pride Demon, but its armor deflected the blade.

"At least I can talk and actually do damage at the same time!" Liam shouted as he swung his ax down hard, cleaving through the demon and into the ground, leaving a small chasm. Alistair rolled his eyes in response, but decided to focus instead on defeating the demon he faced. Using his shield to block the demon's claws as it swiped at him, he forced the shield back as soon as the demon's blow struck, forcing the demon off balance, it stumbled back. Using this opening, he lunged upward with his sword through the demon's chin into its head, the blow landing most effectively.

" Good work, I bet you killed your fair share of Ogres in the day." Liam complimented as the remains of both demons dissolved away back to the fade.

"I usually wasn't the one jumping on them, actually." Alistair mumbled in reply, mostly to himself.

"Look out!" Abigail shouted back to them. They both turned around in time to watch a volley of flames disperse over a hastily cast barrier spell.

"This shit is getting annoying!" Liam cursed loudly, wheeling his ax to his side in preparation for a side sweep. Alistair readied his shield and sword once more, making sure he was between the demons and Abigail. Abigail spun her stave around to behind her and gathered focused magic energy as she prepared to cast. There were now two Pride demons, two Rage demons, and two shades facing them down. Liam's spinning side sweep attack hit the leg of the right Pride demon, causing it to stumble to its knee. He used the momentum he gained to leap into the air, ax hoisted above his head ready to strike down. However, the kneeling Pride demon backhanded him out of the air before he could make contact sending him hurtling into a boulder.

"Liam!" Abigail cried out, distracted from the battle at hand.

"Don't worry about him, he can take a hit. Pay attention to what's in front of you!" Alistair ordered as he slashed through the shade attacking on her right, and blocked with his shield the claws of the one on her right.

"Right." She confirmed, as she focused her magic into an electric arc that demolished the remaining shade. The Rage demons teamed up with the nearest Pride demon to batter them with a fire and lightning barrage before charging towards them. The first Rage demon pounded Alistair's shield, but was repelled with the shield much the same as the Pride demon before. Alistair's counter attack this time, however, was not successful, his sword slashing through the molten body doing no damage to the semi-liquid form and causing him to stumble a bit from the lack of resistance. Abigail was managing to repel the second Rage demon as she shot a salvo of magic projectiles into it, dealing a significant amount of damage. Catching Alistair off guard, the Pride demon struck, rending the shield from Alistair's hand.

"Go! I can handle the Rage demons!" Abigail commanded.

"But you-" Alistair started to refuse, but was met with a cold glare from Abigail as she swung her stave hitting the Rage demons both with a magic blast, Alistair nodded his affirmation, and did as he was bid.

"That's enough." Liam spat as he stood wiped the blood from his lip. Slinging it to the ground, his eyes gleamed as he brought his ax to his shoulder. The Pride demon had recovered it's footing as well now, and screeched as it began to charge toward him, lightning lashes in its grasp. Liam closed his eyes, as it grew closer, then as it was almost upon him, he opened his eyes and swung. The demon had no chance to counter as it was cleaved in half, the strength of the blow wedged the ax head steadily into the earth.

Alistair gripped his sword with both hands now, staring down the remaining Pride demon. It laughed its haughty laugh as it started to spin around a lightning lash in its hand, clearly it thought him defenseless without his shield.

"Pride." Alistair voiced, shaking his head. He tensed, he could feel the tainted blood coursing through his veins, strengthening his limbs and enhancing his senses, the evil within ever threatening to take over and destroy everything around it. The demon whipped toward him, but he dashed left. It reached with its left hand, attempting to catch him, but he ducked under its claws, rising with his sword and removing its arm to the elbow. It released a blast of electricity from its core, radiating outward. It caught Alistair with the blast, but it wasn't enough to save itself from him. Rushing towards it and through the electric field he plunged his sword to the hilt through its chest, killing it effectively.

"And the fall." Alistair glared as he ripped his sword back.

Abigail had been doing well against the two Rage demons, until one melted her stave to nothing. At the Circle she had learned to focus her magic into the stave for combat, without it as a focus, she wasn't sure how effective her casting would be. She should have had Solas teach her some focusing techniques that didn't involve a staff! The Circle at Ostwick had gone away from teaching combat magic without a staff as another attempt to control the mages magic, especially with the years of unrest and blood magic being had in Kirkwall, and that was before the rebellion. She had managed to cast a barrier around herself which the Rage demons were making short work of now. She looked to her companions to see that they were fairing favorably, Liam was still attempting to wrench his ax from the earth, and Alistair was hoisting his sword back out of his foe. If only she had a weapon like they did, she'd make quick work of these two demons. Then the thought occurred to her, why not focus her magic to her hands and make a weapon? Focusing, she waved the barrier away with her other hand, letting the Rage demons charge close. Holding her hands as though she held a sword, she struck the first, then spun and struck the next, imitating both Liam and Alistair. When she was done striking them, she clenched her fist, the magic wounds exploding outward, sending Fade slime flying all around her. Alistair had turned to look just as she struck the demons, and stepped toward her when a splatter of slime hit the ground before his foot. Liam rejoined them congratulating Abigail on her fighting skill, both he and her were covered head to toe in demon slime. Alistair looked at his hand which had only a slight bit of slime on it from where he had stabbed the Pride demon then looked back to his companions.

"You two would've died during the Blight." He concluded.

Julius

Julius was pretty sure he was about to go have a conversation with Varric in which Varric was going to tell him that he had known the Champion of Kirkwall's location this whole time, so he was vastly unprepared for what happened once he got to the top of the wall. Walking down the steps to meet them was the Champion of Kirkwall. To say that his eyes were wide with surprise would have been an understatement, the Champion was much taller than he would have guessed from Varric's writing. His eyes did match Varric's description, "odd colored, you can recognize Hawke from his color changing eyes" they were a bright green-blue, sometimes more green, sometimes more blue. Julius stopped being star struck when Hawke spoke.

"Though, I don't use that title much anymore." Hawke spoke with a general disinterest.

"Why didn't you join us sooner?" Julius immediately skipped the formalities and went straight to interrogation.

"Oh, you're the rash one. I'd have preferred meeting the nice one. Since we haven't really met, hello, I'm Hawke, when I show up, everyone dies or everything goes to shit, it's great to meet you. I figured I'd show now, since it has already all gone to shit." Hawke's sarcasm was as great as his legend would have you believe, Varric hadn't embellished that bit at all, it seemed.

"Ah, well, not everyone. Corypheus managed to meet you and live, care to take care of that problem? The Inquisition wasn't created to clean up another of Hawke's messes. Don't worry, we settled the Mage-Templar war for you, you're welcome." Julius bit back. Varric knew Julius was prone to anger, and acting rashly, which is why he too would have preferred this meeting be with Abigail, she was much more reasonable than her twin.

"Oh, good. Another person who knows my life story better than I do because they read a book. Do tell me how I should react, since you clearly know so much about me." Hawke dryly remarked, leaning over and looking uninterestedly over the wall into the interior of the fortress.

"Why is he even here?" Julius asked Varric, while pointing to Hawke.

"Ah, there's the Free Marcher impatience! I'm here as a favor to my friend, who said _**you**_ could use some help in fighting Corypheus, and since I _**did**_ in fact kill him once, I am willing to help, but only if you say 'please'. " Hawke was amusing himself by angering the younger man.

"I don't have to take this from someone whose only accomplishment was not dying when everyone around him did." Julius spat in reply as he turned to walk away.

"Do as you like, I'd rather talk to the polite one anyway, when is she getting here?" Hawke laughed it off.

"Hawke, she's..." Varric began, but the obvious shift in mood toward doom and gloom finished the thought for him.

"Ah, sorry for the loss then." Hawke spoke sincerely for the first time since he had arrived.

"Abigail is missing! She isn't dead!" Julius shouted in reply spinning back around on his heels.

"Right then." Hawke said, standing straight, "I am assuming you have exhausted your resourced to try to find her? I'll see if my contacts can drudge anything up, I'll put the word out straight away, though most of them Varric know, so don't get too hopeful."

"Wh-what? Why are you suddenly helping me?" Julius questioned, taken aback by Hawke's sudden shift in personality.

"Cub, I already told you, I came to help. Here's an old Ferelden saying for you, 'don't look a gift Mabari in the mouth', okay? Now, I guess I'll go give my regards to your advisers." Hawke replied, waving as he walked away.

"Varric, what in the Maker's name just happened?" Julius asked, clearly dumbstruck.

"Cub, you made an ass out of yourself again, but Hawke has always been a sucker for helping out those who need it, and, we need it." Varric stated, shaking his head.

"Here are my terms, first, I don't do anything involving children or animals. Secondly, any items, potions, gold, silver, copper, or other that I liberate or find is mine to do with as I see fit. Third, I get to pick out my quarters while I am here, for the duration of while I am here. And lastly, leave Merrill out of it, don't try to find her, don't try to contact her, I will know if you do." Hawke stated his terms to Leliana and Josephine.

"I see no reason why we cannot comply with these terms, Champion." Josephine graciously accepted, Varric had not embellished on Hawke's compulsive nature to hoard gold and items, it seemed.

"What do you bring to the table though, Hawke?" Leliana inquired, shrewd as ever.

"Information regarding Corypheus and a contact in the Grey Wardens who has some idea of what is happening with their disappearance from Ferelden and Orlais, plus my name, which can get you to anyone in Kirkwall, from Darktown to Hightown." Hawke confidently asserted, he was owed by the entire city of Kirkwall for various reasons, after all..

"Then we have a deal, Hawke." Leliana confirmed.

"Gaius!? When did you get here?" Cullen exclaimed as he walked in with Julius and Cassandra. Julius looked about the room, eyebrows raised, who was Gaius?

"Gaius...? Commander, who are you referring to?" Josephine questioned before anyone else could. Leliana giggled since she was privy to the same knowledge the Commander had as Cullen held his hand up in a gesture that read as "really?"

"Just so everyone here knows, my last name is Hawke, and I do have a given name." Gaius replied, waving his hand in a greeting manner.

"Hawke!? When did he get here!?" Cassandra shouted, suddenly recognizing the armor as that of the Mantle of the Champion.

"He just arrived today, though he embarked on his way here as soon as he received Varric's letter." Josephine responded, then getting a sideways glance from everyone except Cassandra continued, "What? Did I misspeak?"

"I will kill him." Cassandra promised, clenching her fist, you could see the murder flashing in her eyes.

"Before any of that, I have something to say to everyone here. Except you, Hawke. You can leave." Julius began, and the room grew quiet as the everyone except Hawke expected to hear some grave life changing news of some sort.

"I, um, I was harsh after Haven fell. I said things that I regret and that were unreasonable, and, I guess hurtful. Um, I was just upset and lashed out like a child, I apologize. If anyone is at fault, it is me, it was my poor leadership which got us into that mess, and don't try to deny it, I know it was." Julius began looking everyone in the eyes, even Hawke who didn't really need to be present, but when he looked Josephine in the eyes, all he could see and hear were Sera's words and gestures, which suddenly made him very flustered.

"And, um, ah, well, I guess what I am trying to say, is, uh, I'm an idiot ass, and uh, Corypheus. I wanna be mean to Corypheus, and uh, not you guys, and I'm sorry and uh, well, uh... I have a glowy magic hand!" he finished by holding up his right hand and shaking it then ran like mad outside.

"What in the Maker's name was that about?" Cassandra huffed while Gaius laughed loudly, holding his sides and rocking in the chair he was sitting in.

"An apology, I believe." Leliana giggled.

"Should we get a healer to check up on him? He's usually more eloquent than that. That rambling speech was just...bizarre." Josephine concluded, slightly worried about Julius.

"Anyhow, we should be getting back to our duties now." Cullen dismissed, he could sense the incoming headache he was going to have later.

Bending over and panting to get his breath back after running, Julius breathed, "Damn you, Sera."

The fortress was active that night, news of the Champion of Kirkwall being within the keep exciting all the soldiers, and seeing him in the tavern toasting with the Iron Bull made everyone that much more engaged. It was a great reprieve from the haunting thoughts of a few weeks past and the people they had lost at Haven. As the celebrating and drinking got intense enough that Bull and the Chargers started singing their song and swaying, Julius noticed Hawke make his way out of the festivities and exit. Julius followed him up onto the ramparts, curious as to what he was doing.

He approached as he noticed Hawke stop to look over the ramparts at the vastness of the mountains in the moonless, starless night.

"Something about these walls make them perfect for staring over in deep thought. Maybe we should open a monastery here." Julius stated, getting a bit of a smirk from the Champion.

"I was wondering when you were going to join me, I tend to notice when I am followed, blame Kirkwall for that. Oh, by the way, I need to congratulate you on your fine speech earlier, too bad we didn't have a scribe to take it down for the history books." Gaius replied, getting an eye roll from Julius.

"Yeah... I just can't resist an opportunity to make myself look foolish in front of Josephine." Julius lamented, leaning up against the wall.

"Heh. At least you're honest." Gaius replied. Julius was starting to change his opinion about Hawke, he wasn't all that terrible once you got past the fact that _**literally**_ everything you could say or do would be joked about or made fun of, but he wasn't a bad person. Julius was curious to see if he lived up to Varric's description of his fighting prowess, he was eager to see whether or not this man actually could have killed the Arishok.

"So, what are you doing out here?" Julius inquired after a time.

"Just doing my best impersonation of Fenris." Hawke deflected with a smirk.

"Right, sure. Well, enjoy the festivities, I guess." Julius stated as he started to walk away, it was obvious Hawke wasn't going to tell him the real reason.

"Hey! Quick question!" Hawke called after him.

"What?" Julius asked back.

"Isn't there supposed to be a guard up there?" Gaius asked, pointing to the gate house tower.

"Oh. Yeah? Where did he go?" Julius puzzled.

"That's what I thought." Gaius confirmed as he dragged Julius down to squatting so as not to be seen above the wall.

"What's going on?" Julius whispered, he was smart enough to understand that something was up, he just didn't know what.

"We are under attack, clearly. Assassins, I would guess. This small a force would have to be assassins, or idiots." Gaius spoke under his breath.

"You saw them?" Julius inquired.

"No, but I don't see an army out there, so I'm guessing it is a small force, better for a precision attack, that's why I figure assassins." Gaius replied, adding, "Since you are with me, we need to get to your advisers, we can't assume you are the only target, but we can definitely assume you are one of the targets. Cullen is the closest, follow me."

"Couldn't we just have a lazy guard?" Julius inquired, was Hawke this paranoid?

"Sure, and the guard patrolling the top of the walls a moment ago could have just decided to get lazy as well, and so could the guards at the end of the bridge who disappeared, but I prefer to believe my theory." Gaius gave a distinct side glance as he rebutted, and Julius was forced to concede the point for the moment.

Varric hadn't written much about Hawke's stealth, but the man was a shadow. Julius lost sight of him several times while following him a mere few feet behind. Unlatching the door to Cullen's room, Gaius slowly pushed it open, then entered, blocking a sword aimed at his throat with his dagger.

"Maker's breath! It's just you, Hawke." Cullen said, withdrawing his sword.

"Trevelyan is with me. Any idea what's going on?" Hawke asked quickly.

"I know there are more than two, and one is a mage. I came to get my shield when I found evidence of magic by the gate, someone froze the metal making it brittle enough to be shattered. They are inside already, we must get to Josephine first." Cullen declared.

"I agree, the Nightingale can take care of herself." Gaius nodded. Julius felt useless and dumb with these two around to formulate plans and be paranoid, but he was glad to see the Inquisition's Commander wasn't easily distracted from the safety of the keep.

"The quickest way to her office is across this bridge, but there isn't any cover other than the half walls, so if you are going to go, be quick." Cullen suggested.

"I'll go. You can go the long way around, I'm sure Leliana has already figured it out too." Gaius stated, and not waiting for a response, he was gone.

Cullen motioned for Julius, and he followed. They were heading for the entrance to the kitchens around the side when suddenly Cullen pushed Julius out of the way and blocked a volley of magic shots which lit up the darkness. The light from the magic faded before they could get a good look at their assailant. Back to back, they both had their shields raised, looking out into the starless darkness trying to get a hint as to where the attacker had gone. A soft sound of a boot on the dirt alerted them that the attacker was before Cullen, and he lashed out with his sword, catching a shield and bouncing off ineffectively. They heard the side door creak open and saw in the brief light that the mage had gone inside.

"Go!" Cullen ordered as he blocked a sword with his shield this time. Julius didn't hesitate, and inside he ran, trying to catch up to the mage. The torches that lit the inside hurt his eyes, but soon he adjusted to the light. He ran until he came to the library, looking about like a terrified nug, searching for the mage.

"What brings you here away from the celebration?" Dorian inquired, noticing Julius acting strangely.

"I'm looking for-Ah! There! The mage!" Julius shouted, as he saw the cloaked figure trying to open one of the blocked off doors.

The figure startled at hearing him, and ran towards the railing, jumping off the side, and dashing past Solas, who then watched as Julius did the same and was further confused.

"What in the Maker's name is going on!?" Dorian shouted after him. Solas looked back and forth seemingly trying to figure out whether Julius was chasing Sera through the castle again or whether he was pursuing an enemy.

Cullen and his attacker continued to trade blows to the other's shield, a tit-for-tat, getting them nowhere. Cullen was getting frustrated at the lack of light, making a mental note to add torches out on this side of the fortress. The lack of light soon rewarded him, however, as he backed into the wooden post of scaffolding that had been set up to mend the walls, he could use this to his advantage, just so long as his foe was as blind as he was in this darkness. Back against the scaffold, he awaited his foes next sword thrust. He heard his foe breathe, then he readied his shield, sure enough, the sword was thrust straight at him, he deflected the blade right and slid out of the way, sending his foe into the scaffold the full momentum of his own attack against him. The man hit the wood full force, bloodying his face. Cullen placed one foot on the other's shield, pinning it to the ground, and held his sword against the throat.

"Commander! What is going on!?" Cassandra ran over, carrying a torch.

"Wha-You!?" Cullen shouted in surprise as the light revealed the face of his attacker.

As soon as the mage reached the grand hallway she stopped, but still Julius tackled her to the ground, then held his sword to her head, saying, "Don't even breathe."

"Hey." Varric said, then nodded towards the back of the room, where he could see Gaius, daggers on the ground, and hands held up in surrender. Gaius wasn't the one in danger though, Josephine stood just outside the door to her office a hand visible past the door holding a blade to her throat.

"Let her go!" Julius demanded as he stood, Varric having taken over with a bolt aimed directly at the head of the mage.

"He is interested in making a trade." Josephine stated, translating the faint whispers of the man who held her captive. "He wants his mage. And he wants only the Herald to deliver her, if not, he..."

"I'll do it!" Julius agreed immediately, hoisting the hooded mage to her feet, and roughly marching her towards the back of the room.

"As soon as the switch is made, we'll kill them both." Gaius whispered as they passed him, and he nodded back to Varric, who nodded in affirmation.

"Stop! He would like you to stop there." Josephine nervously shouted then started to move as the towering man moved out of the room with her.

"So, I was the last one, huh?" He said, removing his hood to reveal his face. He looked just like Gaius, only he had red hair and red eyes. Gaius huffed a laugh at the reveal. The sun starting to rise and spread light through the fortress, the mage removed her hood slowly then too, revealing her identity.

"Abigail...?" Julius choked.

A/N: So, I had some feedback regarding the confusion from jumping between our two heroes, so I broke it up a bit more, and put the name at the top of the paragraph stating who it was meant to be about. This is my temporary fix, it may become a permanent solution, it doesn't look bad, in my opinion. (FYI, my editor and co-writer agreed with you guys on that, but I was waaaaaay too stubborn to listen... Now I'll never hear the end of it... oh well.) Also, who else wasn't expecting that ending? Just wait until the next chapter, it's a good one, promise. I'm really excited about it, and terrified, since I kinda have some writer's block now... But, I should be back to updating by next Tuesday. And yeah, I know I am a day late updating this week... my bad, sorry.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter 4: Do You Understand That We Will Never Be The Same Again?

 _Now her hand is raised  
A sword to pierce the sun  
With iron shield she defends the faithful  
Let chaos be undone _

-Canticle of Victoria

Julius and Abigail

"You're alive!" He shouted, picking her up in a bear hug, making it hard for her to breathe.

"Not for long if you don't let her breathe, calm down, Cub." Varric suggested as he walked up to them, glad to see the girl was safe.

"Sweet Maker! I didn't hurt you a second ago, did I!?" Julius questioned, putting her down and shaking her around to look at her.

"No-no, I'm fine." Abigail smiled as she waved her hand, why was her brother so concerned? This was strange.

"Abigail's back!" Julius said excitedly, picking up Josephine at the waist and twirling in a circle, making the lady blush furiously while Abigail laughed.

"Andraste's tits, Hawke, was that really necessary?" Varric complained, shaking his head.

"Hawke?" Abigail, Julius, and Josephine all inquired looking at the red haired man, Julius still holding Josephine aloft.

"Ah... well, shit." Varric sighed.

"Ahem." Leliana vocalized, walking in and looking at Julius holding Josephine in the air.

"Oh, sorry." he said, blushing in embarrassment while setting her back down.

"Before you explain, you might as well wait for our other guest." Leliana continued, turning towards the door where in walked Cullen, followed by Cassandra and Alistair, who was holding a rag over his broken nose.

"My lord, King Alistair! We were not expecting you! I apologize for our lack of decorum!" Josephine exclaimed while bowing. Her eyes were wide with the terrifying realization of how under prepared they were for any nobility, let alone a king, to be visiting them at this time. They didn't even have the newest silks from Val Royeaux here yet! Or the Antivan spiced wine!

"No, no, my apologies for going along with his dumb idea. Just ignore that I'm here." Alistair refuted, pointing to Liam.

"Hey! We all agreed! I just happen to be the best at not getting caught. I figured we'd see how the defenses fared and have some fun with these guys here. Hey, no harm done, yeah?" Liam stated, the last bit a question to Josephine which she took to be some semblance of an apology for scaring her.

"Ah, of course not." Josephine respectfully replied, then went into a panic over the king's injured face, requesting the best healer to be brought immediately from amongst the mages.

"Anyhow, care to explain, brothers Hawke?" Leliana stated, she was amused at Josephine's fretting over Alistair, simply because she knew how much he hated being fretted over.

"Actually, I think you just summed it up right there, thanks." Liam dismissed.

"Okay, here it is, there were two sets of Hawke twins, myself and Liam, and Carver and Bethany. Yes, we do look alike. Though, I inherited the Hawke dark hair, while Liam has the red hair from the Amell side. No, we have no more siblings, though we do have a few cousins. And no, as far as most all of Kirkwall was concerned, there was one Champion of Kirkwall, those idiots couldn't even tell us apart. Actually, pretty much Cullen is the only one in Kirkwall who knows there are two of us. What started as a game, well, it became a careful ruse after everything that happened. Nobody bothered to wonder how there were so many conflicting stories about 'The Champion', they just blamed inaccurate storytelling by Varric, that and we were always really good at pretending to be one person. Truth is, we both had a hand in most all of it. Though, only I was involved with Merrill." Gaius smirked, Liam nodding in agreement.

"Hawke, must you always cause trouble?" Cullen inquired, pinching the bridge of his nose, he was sure to hear about this later from Cassandra at least, though it appeared that Leliana already knew.

"Cause trouble? I saved your Herald!" Liam rebuked, though he was just continuing to mess with Cullen.

"I- I thank you." Cullen said, his eyes looking anywhere but near Abigail, this Liam noticed.

"My dear girl!" Dorian exclaimed, walking into the room arms open wide since he had finally managed to figure out what was happening, to which Abigail cheerily exclaimed as she rushed over and hugged him, "Dorian! I didn't know you were here!"

"Sorry to interrupt, but since we are all here, let's go meet in the war room and discuss everything that has happened." Cassandra demanded, and although she had finally found Varric, some things were more important than her murdering the lying dwarf.

"Very well, do come have a bottle of wine with me later, we can catch up, I'll be in the library." Dorian suggested as he bid Abigail goodbye.

"I have a contact in the Grey Wardens who was investigating the Wardens' disappearance from Ferelden and Orlais, though it probably expands into the Free Marches as well. He was supposed to contact me with a meeting place within the next fortnight." Gaius began.

"We might know something about their disappearance." Abigail added, then gave the floor to Alistair, who was still sporting a rag over his nose, he had refused to wait for a healer before starting the meeting.

"Uh, yes. Well, um, this isn't proven, but they may be hearing the Calling." He stated shyly.

"The Calling!? All of them!? How can you be sure?" Leliana gasped, she knew the severity of that even if the others didn't.

"Well, um, I started hearing it? And it is getting worse with every passing day... But, it could just be me, who knows?" Alistair stated, not wanting to look Leliana in the eyes, she had moved her hand to her mouth on hearing it from her friend. Leliana's reaction caused worry in Cassandra and Josephine.

"Maker! Tell me they haven't all gone to the Deep Roads!" Cullen demanded, slamming his fist on the table.

"How should we know? Alistair's not active in the Wardens anymore!" Liam defended. Josephine cringed at him using King Alistair's name so casually and without his proper title.

"We also have those other matters." Julius stated, changing the discussion, and looking at Abigail and the advisers. "Have we figured out anything more?"

"That is, well..." Josephine began to say something, but glanced at Alistair and stopped.

"Oh, go ahead. King Alistair is hardly vested in The Game." Cassandra huffed impatiently, and Leliana nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, Empress Celene is in negotiations to host a peace meeting at a ball at the Winter Palace, her cousin grand duchess Florianne De Chalons is going to host the affair, hoping to bring an end to the civil war between her brother and cousin." Josephine continued.

"This will be the perfect opportunity for Corypheus to have his pawns assassinate her." Leliana added bluntly.

"Assassinate Empress Celene! How do you know this!?" Alistair gaped removing his hand from his face to reveal his rather gruesome nose which he quickly jumped to cover again as Josephine gulped in disgust.

"I saw it in the future." Abigail replied nonchalantly.

"A demon told me." Julius dismissed. Alistair stared at the two in disbelief for a moment before he told everyone else to continue with their planning, apparently this was a thing that happened often. Just how much had the Heralds been through?

"As for the demon army, we still have no leads, but we are monitoring the lyrium trade and the movement of Tevinter slavers and their slaves for use in blood magic." Cullen stated bitterly, a bit frustrated he didn't have more information on that. Alistair looked around the room and seeing that no one was bothered by that information decided not to question it. Demon armies usually caused deep alarm in people, but nobody in here was alarmed at all, except him, apparently.

"We do however have some insight on Samson's whereabouts. We are in the process of intercepting red lyrium shipments through the Dales and hope to trace his steps further from there, though the civil war is hampering our efforts." Cullen continued.

"I will continue working on getting an invitation to the Winter Palace, perhaps it would be best to await contact from Hawke's Grey Warden associate? And assess the situation with the Grey Wardens as we try to secure more information on all the other affairs?" Josephine suggested.

"Yes, I agree. But for now, rest. And Maker, Alistair, would you please go see the healer!" Leliana decreed, making Josephine nervous as she ordered the King of Ferelden around like a mother to her child.

"Oh, wait, before I forget..." Liam began, sounding bored as he approached Gaius, then punching him squarely in the face yelled, "That's for keeping me in the dark! I ought to punch you again for Merrill, you bastard!" Everyone but Cullen stared with wide eyes at the display, Cullen sounded annoyed as he ordered, "Go start trouble somewhere else!"

Alistair

"Ah! Yes, here she is, Enchanter Fiona, she will be able to heal you, your majesty." Josephine invited, leading Alistair over to the Elven enchanter, who realizing who it was that she was being asked to heal was wide eyed in shock.

"Oh, yes, we've met." Alistair said, sitting down in a chair provided by Josephine, while Fiona continued to stare at the floor.

"Oh yes, forgive my thoughtlessness, you met in Redcliffe. I shall arrange for Julius to escort you, but you shall have to forgive me, I have some duties to attend to currently. In the meantime, I leave you in Enchanter Fiona's hands." Josephine bowed as she excused herself so she could have a mild panic attack in the next room trying to arrange a room for a king to stay in at Skyhold, let alone the two Hawke brothers.

"So, um, are they treating you well, here in the Inquisition?" Alistair asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Your majesty, the magic works best if you don't talk." Fiona politely rebuked, not wanting to engage with Alistair.

"Oh, sorry. ...oh, sorry I said that too... My bad, I'll just shut up now. ….sorry.." Alistair apologized, making the situation ridiculous enough Fiona had to smile.

"But, in response to your question, yes, we are treated as equals, something I did not expect from an organization picking up the pieces for the Chantry. Even with the Templars in the Inquisition, we are accepted and respected. It is all we could ask for." Fiona replied, as she finished healing.

"Wow, good as new! Thank you." Alistair smiled his gratitude as he rubbed his nose. Fiona quickly excused herself after she was done with the healing, but as she left, Alistair called back, "I'm glad you're happy here!"

Fiona entered the library quickly but he could see the tears streaming from the corners of her eyes, which puzzled Dorian. What puzzled him more was that he wasn't sure whether they were tears of sadness or happiness.

Hawke

"You knew where they were this whole time! You knew there were two of them! You lying little bastard!" Cassandra screamed her frustration at Varric.

"Yes! And I'd lie a thousand times over to keep you people away from them! You people have done enough!" Varric rebuked, just as fervently as Cassandra.

"People died! The Most Holy died! If Hawke had been there-!" Cassandra was interrupted by Varric's counter, "He'd probably be dead too! Just leave them alone! They've lost enough!" Cassandra grabbed the dwarf, and raised her fist to punch him, but her hand was caught firmly before she could land the blow.

"Varric, we can fight our own battles." Liam stated firmly, still gripping Cassandra's hand. Cassandra eased her grip on Varric's shirt and let him go, walking away slowly, he said,"I hope you know what you are doing, Hawke."

"Why didn't you come forth!? You knew we were looking for you!" Cassandra questioned frustratedly.

"We knew there were talks about an Exalted March too. Protecting the innocent in Kirkwall had always been our goal, and you wanted us to threaten that? We already had the Starkhaven brat at our throat, but sure, we should have invited the whole Chantry, right? Your Chantry had already failed enough in that city." Gaius dismissed from the corner where he had been standing.

"I-I don't know." Cassandra confessed, she realized it wouldn't have made sense for them to go seeking the Chantry after all that had happened, still, Divine Justinia's death was too raw a wound.

"You're a woman of strong conviction, I like you," Liam stated boldly, making Cassandra blush slightly at the boldness of it, but he followed sinisterly with, "But don't ever threaten my friend again." Then both he and Gaius left, meeting up with Varric outside.

"Varric! You never told me how beautiful the Seeker was!" Liam accosted.

"Are you drunk or just crazy, Hawke?" Varric inquired in return, now very afraid for his friend's safety. Gaius merely laughed in response.

Abigail

"Yes, your brother was quite despondent while you were missing. Well, we could hardly blame him, almost everyone thought you were dead, I'm sure he thought so too to some degree." Dorian said, his wine starting to loosen his tongue.

"Oh, I'm sure he wasn't too terribly upset... I mean, I'm not saying he's a heartless monster, but I'm sure he would have been fine. We aren't close. I don't really think he likes me at all. Nobody else does in our family, magic isn't something a Chantry family really likes, I guess." Abigail spoke with the voice of someone who is pretending not to be upset by something. Dorian noticed this, but he also noticed how Abigail seemed oblivious to the fact her brother did truly care for her well being, as a brother should. He was beginning to sense that maybe the honorable Trevelyan family harbored secrets like everyone else. He would have to look into that, but for now, he decided to change the subject.

"Well then, should I tell you about how miserable the Commander was while you were away? Oh, the piteous faces he made, the despondent shadow in his eyes, truly, I cannot imagine anyone is happier than he is that you are back." Dorian glanced over at Abigail sipping her tea with a red flush on her cheeks as he spoke, which only egged him on.

"Yes, you wouldn't believe how dour he was, he even spoke of you in his sleep. Oh, the things he said-" Dorian continued until Abigail choked on her tea.

"I-I-I should be going. I should rest. I need rest." Abigail flustered, trying to escape Dorian's voice.

"Farewell, then, dear. Do sleep in your own room, though, the Commander's room is to the right!" Dorian called after her, delighting in her embarrassment, but he was telling some truth as well, Cullen had been rather upset, but even he couldn't say for sure the exact reason why, Cullen was hard to read, always guarded, so very Templar in his nature.

Julius and Alistair

"So, you're the king of Ferelden?" Julius questioned, his tone more dismissive than it should have been.

"That's what they tell me when I wake up every morning." Alistair sassed back.

"You're not half bad, you know, for nobility. In fact, you remind me of someone..." Julius corrected, not sounding as haughty this time, though he still couldn't quite pin down who the king reminded him of.

"Not so bad yourself? Also, I was raised as a stable boy, so I have very little experience looking down on people and not being able to care for myself. That's what happens when a father abandons his bastard son, apparently." Alistair shrugged, even with all he had learned, he was still a bit bothered by his past.

"Wish mine had abandoned me." Julius casually remarked a not so casual statement. "Anyhow, over this way is the library, we could go be bored with books for an hour, or we could go see Bull and his boys living it up in the tavern, whichever you'd prefer."

"Oh, that's not a weighted statement. You do realize, I don't need a guide, right? I know your lady ambassador put you up to it, but seriously-" Alistair started, but then ducked quickly, a pie missing his face just barely.

"You weren't supposed to move!" a blonde elf wearing a mustard stained shirt shrieked as she ran away waving her two finger salute.

"Ah, that's Sera. I was more supposed to be a guard than a guide, and that is why Lady Montilyet suggested I entertain you." Julius remarked, unfazed by Sera's antics.

"To the tavern then?" Alistair agreed.

Abigail

Abigail sat in the rafters looking down into the tavern below watching the Hawke brothers and the king of Ferelden sing "Andraste's Mabari" as they clinked their mugs of beer together with Iron Bull and his Chargers. Julius was passed out over the bar, drink still firmly clutched in his hand. They had been drinking and telling tales of Kirkwall and Ferelden much to the delight of everyone in the tavern, including Varric who quietly smirked as he sipped his drink in the corner. Abigail smiled, her brother was so good at talking to people, he could fit in anywhere he went, even though he seemed surly and angry all the time. She was more reserved. It was hard to talk to people, hard not to make a fool out of herself, hard to not feel like her every breath was being judged and measured. She loved every one of their friends, but she really only talked to Dorian and Varric. Cassandra scared her, she was too much like a Templar. Sera was fun, but she seemed to get annoyed by Abigail's niceness. Iron Bull was always surrounded by people, so many people. Solas spoke as though he was angry at her sometimes, she was afraid she had done something to offend him. She knew Vivienne hated her, they didn't have the same thoughts on Templars and mages. Warden Blackwall didn't seem to like talking much, he always said very little, and she felt like it would be annoying to try to talk to someone who didn't want to talk. Varric was easy to talk to, even though you knew he was never telling the full truth. And Dorian and her had been best friends since witnessing the distorted future together at Redcliffe castle.

"Leaves in the wind, seasons changing, spring after the winter. Rain in a drought. Washing away sadness." Cole spoke abruptly, but strangely, he didn't startle her. That was who she hadn't thought of yet, though she hadn't had much time to talk with him since a lot of things happened right after Cole came back to Haven with Julius.

"Hi, Cole. I'm glad you stayed." She said, smiling. "I'm also glad everyone is happy again too."

"How do you know they are? Everyone?" Cole questioned.

"Oh, well, I meant who you were talking about. It seemed like you were saying people were happy." Abigail fretted, had she misunderstood?

"A brief reprieve, drowns out the voice, but it always shouts louder in the quiet darkness of the night. Sing and dance, then Kirkwall burned, Carver stayed in the Deep Roads too, it always ends, the happiness always ends. Keep her away, keep her safe. If she is near me, she'll get hurt, Mother, Bethany, Carver, Liam. All get hurt. Keep them away, especially the little one. Too bright, but he is sad. The past like darkness covering the light, how do I help?" Cole spoke, but Abigail couldn't be sure who he was talking about though she did guess it was multiple people. She did understand that there was plenty of inner turmoil though, so she sort of understood what Cole was trying to convey.

"The voices in the tower hurt him, but your voice helps. It drowns out the other voices, some from the tower, some from the Templars. It helps, but always distant. What did I do wrong?" Cole said, looking her in the eyes. She wasn't sure who he was talking about again, but she was happy she was helping someone.

"Thank you, Cole. I'm going to go for a walk, okay?" Abigail stated, as she stood, the tavern below was beginning to clear out as everyone was leaving for the comfort of bed. Cole didn't reply, he just stared intently at the rooms below.

Out on the wall, she stretched her arms above her head as she twirled around and began to walk backwards. She still couldn't believe how massive this castle was, and it belonged to the Inquisition now! Still, she missed the small houses of Haven, behind these walls, she could only think about the Circle, which made her shudder. Walking along backwards, she spun again and bumped straight into a Templar, who dropped the papers he had been carrying. Abigail immediately froze, she was terrified of the Templars. She had walked this way on purpose, the Templars had a tower to themselves on the far side of the fortress and she had hoped not to see one tonight.

"You could say 'Excuse me'! You ran into me." The Templar huffed, but Abigail just looked to the side at the ground, trying not to say anything or cry.

"Really? You aren't going to apologize? You mages have been so stuck up since the rebellion. Well, guess what? We are all in the same boat now, so you can show some respect." The Templar demanded as he stood, towering over her, and as he got closer to her, she flinched, a tear escaping her eye.

"That's enough! That is the Herald of Andraste, you show respect!" Cullen interrupted with an angry voice.

"The Herald? Ah-ah, M-my apologies, I meant no disrespect." The Templar bowed as he realized his mistake.

"Go back to your barracks. We will decide your punishment later." Cullen ordered gruffly, as he hit the man upside the head, Abigail was still stiff and she did not soften until the Templar was out of view.

"Are you hurt?" Cullen questioned, then seeing the tear streak on her face had wished he'd hit the man harder.

"Oh, um, I'm fine." She replied, trying unsuccessfully to wipe away the tear before he noticed.

"We can transfer him somewhere else. Do you know him?" Cullen asked, he knew she had been at the Ostwick Circle but was not sure what all had gone on there between her and the Templars. By all accounts, the Ostwick Circle was not terrible, and her noble status should have made it easier for her there as well.

"Oh, no, I just bumped into him tonight. I was rude. You don't need to punish him. I'm fine." She stated, not looking Cullen in the eyes.

"We need to transfer some of the Templars to Orlais anyway, so it is no trouble." Cullen said, raising his hand to touch her shoulder in comfort, but seeing her flinch when his hand got close, he put it back down to his side. "Ah, well, I should go."

"I'm sorry. I'm just a bit dazed tonight. Sorry to have worried you." Abigail stated, she hadn't meant to flinch, in fact, she really wanted a hug, but even though Cullen was softer than most Templars, he still carried himself the same way as them, which brought up bad memories and thoughts, she couldn't help it, though she was trying.

"Well, I'm glad you're back." He replied, smiling, then catching himself, he blushed and suggested she get some rest before retreating to his tower. He did send for the recruit to be transferred to Orlais the next morning after he thoroughly instructed the Templar on proper respect and etiquette.

Abigail

 _Haunting voices murmured unintelligible songs from the dark corners, as the screams of men, women, and children filled the air. She held a torch in her hand, but the darkness started to devour everything around her, the houses, the land, and the people. She could hear the tortured screams of thousands as she ran from the darkness, soon though, it was before her and all around, creeping closer and closer, as the whispers became louder along with a scream, a pained scream from a man being tortured by the horrid song. She still couldn't understand the words, but the song was as loud as a person shouting in her ear and it continued to grow as the darkness consumed everything. Now all was dark, she had only her torch for light, in the distance she could see a faint flicker in the darkness. She called out to the tiny light, asking if anyone was there with her, but the deafening noise blocked out her voice. As the darkness started to ensnare her legs, she tried to force her way to the light. She could see it was a tiny flame now, just a faint glimmer, and that someone was holding it. Falling, her hand that held the torch outstretched before her, she could see it was Alistair who held the little flame, his body almost enveloped in the darkness._

She bolted awake, her breathing labored still at the vivid dream. She could almost still hear the screams, no wait, there it was again. Someone was screaming. She grabbed her robe and proceeded out into the dark hallways with a small candle providing her light. She was in the guest wing of the fortress, her permanent room had not been established yet, poor Josephine was in a flurry trying to get everything set up for them. Coming to the door the intermittent shouts came from, she realized it was Alistair shouting out, just like her dream. Maybe she had seen him in the Fade? Or seen his dream? She would have to consult Solas about the dreams, he knew more of walking in the Fade than she did. Opening the door, she saw that he was indeed still asleep, but he was twitching, shouting, and becoming entangled in his covers. She decided waking him from his night terror might be the best idea, and she really didn't know what to do otherwise either. She sat her light down on the bedside table and placed her hand tentatively on his shoulder which was clammy, he was in a cold sweat from his nightmare. She attempted to wake him saying, "Your majesty, King Alistair, you're having a nightmare..."

Though, the gentle approach didn't seem to work, and after trying to wake him for a few minutes unsuccessfully, she did her best impersonation of Liam, shouting, "Wake up, Alistair! It isn't real!"

Alistair suddenly opened his eyes and returned to consciousness, asking "Where...?"

"You're in Skyhold. You were having a nightmare." Abigail explained, rubbing his shoulder gently in a comforting manner.

"Oh, Maker, I woke you, didn't I? I'm sorry." Alistair said, rising to a seated position, his covers sliding to reveal his bare chest and arms. Abigail was embarrassed, and turned away slightly to avoid looking at him. She was a clever, but very innocent girl, as Dorian would put it.

"It's no trouble, I had just woken up from a bad dream too." She piped up, shifting uncomfortably. "But not bad, like I was gonna get possessed! Nothing like that!"

"Well, that's good to know." Alistair laughed, he was the only person who had Templar training that she could talk to so easily, maybe it was the time they had spent together journeying to Skyhold, or maybe it was that he seemed more sympathetic to mages than every other one she had met.

"What were you dreaming about?" She inquired, curious about whether it was the same as her dream or not.

"Just another Warden dream, mostly about death and darkspawn. Sorry for the shouting, I'm guessing it was my shouting that woke you. That happens sometimes." Alistair stated, rubbing the back of his neck, he was still slightly upset he'd bothered her.

"Oh. Does it hurt?" She asked, looking at his face again, then added, "Oh, your nose is bleeding again."

"Ah!" He exclaimed, grabbing his nose, then he reached over to grab a cloth from the bedside table drawer and held it under his nose.

"Well, no, not really. It is hard to explain. The tainted blood gives every Warden strength, but we can also feel it coursing through our veins, it doesn't hurt, but it doesn't not hurt either...?" Alistair tried tell Abigail, but couldn't find a way.

"Like you can feel it and sometimes it almost feels like a burning or pulsing?" Abigail questioned as she looked at her marked hand.

"Sort of. It kind of just feels like, well, like a darkness clawing away at you constantly, that's the tainted blood. The taint is always fighting to take over, the evil within, and so I guess you could say we live in a constant battle, trying to resist, for lack of a better explanation. Though lately, I mostly feel like a rock has been dropped on my head." Alistair elaborated more, but it was still a vague concept mostly.

"That may be partly due to all those drinks you had." Abigail teased, to which Alistair nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, I will try not to wake you any more tonight." Alistair said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing, he offered his hand to her to help her up. Abigail took his offered hand, and stood. Alistair walked her to the door and bid her goodnight, shutting the door before he realized he'd only been wearing some slinky silken sleeping pants the entire time. His hand hit his face as he realized that was why she was trying not to look at him the entire time. Poor girl.

Julius

 _Somehow, he was back at Haven, but there was no one else there, save Solas who just happened to be walking through and saw him, raising an eyebrow as he saw him._

 _"Solas! Where is everyone?" Julius asked, which drew a curious look from Solas._

 _"You don't know?" Solas replied, still examining the entire situation._

 _"No, I don't." Julius remarked, talking down to the elf._

 _"Just where do you think we are?" Solas inquired, trying to get as much information as possible._

 _"Haven?" Julius replied incredulously. Solas was usually so quick witted, this idiotic line of questioning was beneath him._

 _"I'm actually amazed we are having this conversation at all. I'm surprised that the mark has granted you this ability, you aren't even a mage." Solas mused, mostly to himself, but Julius did eventually catch on._

 _"Wait... are you saying this is the Fade?" Julius began looking all around, he had expected to see demons or something._

 _"Yes, I was trying to reach out and dream with the spirits here in the fortress, but I was drawn here instead. How fascinating. Has this happened before?" Solas responded._

 _"Well, I did have a strange dream before, it was after Haven fell. And I saw wisps, they led me here, to find Skyhold, but those were different, I could only watch, I couldn't speak or anything like now." Julius replied, he had actually been meaning to talk with Solas about it._

 _"Intriguing. We should discuss your dreams again soon. Your connection with the Fade seems very strong, perhaps the spirits will have more to show you in the future." Solas seemed pleased with the new information he was discovering._

 _"Again soon? Why not now?" Julius questioned, a slightly annoyed look on his face._

 _"Because now, you should.." Solas began and then finished which resulted in the intended effect, "WAKE UP."_

Julius shot awake, wincing from the light pouring in through the windows in his room made worse by his pounding head. He couldn't even remember going to bed last night, he guessed he had Iron Bull or one of the Chargers to thank for that, though, maybe it was Blackwall. A knock on his door informed him he was needed, and the messenger on the other side of the door confirmed it instructing him that the advisers had sent for him. He got dressed in his blue silken shirt and grey leather pants as quickly as anyone still hung over from the previous night could, and down the stairway he descended. He was met by Abigail, who was also dressed nicely.

"Any guesses on what is going on?" He asked confidently.

"I have no idea. I know Josephine asked me to choose between a few outfits, and I chose this one, she just told me to get dressed and head down to meet them at the entrance." Abigail shrugged, then yawned, it was obvious she was still tired.

"Must be meeting nobles then." He surmised incorrectly.

Getting to the entrance, they saw Josephine and Leliana, who both approved their looks. Leliana and Josephine both gushed over Abigail's white gloves and matching boots, and her silken shirt of crimson that was well matched with her brown vest. Julius rolled his eyes in boredom until finally the women stopped their doting. Josephine walked ahead of them out front while Leliana instructed them to use their best posture and to follow her out the entrance to the stair steps. There they met Cassandra as well, who had a single sword held in her hand.

"More flock to Skyhold everyday, it has become a pilgrimage. Our enemies, the Elder One, he has no doubt heard of us now, but here, we have the numbers and the strength to defend against his armies. We now know why he was drawn to the both of you, and the power in the marks. But you are both more than the mark on your hand. Julius, you redeemed the Templars and saved them from the destruction of their own making. And you, Abigail, you saved the mages from selling themselves to demons in the name of freedom. You each ended the Mage-Templar war and restored peace to Thedas. The Inquisition needs leaders, the ones who have already been leading it." Cassandra stated, catching both Julius and Abigail off guard as she held the sword out to them. The people and soldiers gathered at the bottom of the stairway all listened with baited breath to see what would happen. Julius stuck his foot in his mouth first.

"I didn't ask for this! I didn't ask to be The Herald!" He burst, drawing worried looks from the onlookers.

"The Maker does not ask, he calls those he needs to action. I have seen it before, in Ferelden, in Kirkwall, and now here. The Maker did not abandon you at Haven, he will not abandon you now." Leliana spoke powerfully, and the crowd again was instilled with wonder.

"We would be honored to accept." Abigail placed her hand on the sword first, saying, "We will defend the faithful, and we will defeat Corypheus." Julius took hold of the handle with her, resolved to stay if she was, and both raised it above their heads reciting together, "Though all before me is shadow, Yet shall the Maker be my guide."

"Have our people been told!?" Cassandra shouted.

"They have! And soon the world!" Josephine shouted in reply.

"Commander, will they follow!?" Cassandra again shouted.

"Inquisition, will you follow? Will you fight? Will we triumph!?" Cullen rallied, each question being responded to with cheers of affirmation.

"Inquisition, your leaders, your Heralds, your Inquisitors!" Cullen announced, turning to face them and pointing with his drawn sword. The crowd erupted into uncontrollable cheers, even Josephine joined in with the cheering, much to her own embarrassment. Now they were the Inquisitors leading the Inquisition with a formal title and rank, and now was the time for action.

A/N: Woot! Inquisitors! And we are going to start to see the budding romances of our Inquisitors, as well, as start to explore their pasts. Oh, and yeah, I liked the concept of 2 separate people being "Hawke" the inspiration actually came from the Princess Bride, but having 2 identical twin brothers just made more sense to the story than "The Dread Pirate Robert" idea (random people just taking over a name). I started laying the ground work for other reveals to come already, small little hints, placed here and there. So, next chapter we will see some interesting character development for our Inquisitors, stay tuned! (Oh, and I'll say this now, there are some ideas which are cannon that I, er, disagree with, obviously, so I will try to convey in the story what I change, though it shouldn't be too much, though obviously having 2 Inquisitors and 2 Hawkes is a substantial change, so, there is that. Yeah, I will likely add a bit of head-cannon explanation when I see fit in a future Author's note, like everyone's ages and ect. That's important.)


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter 5: Hold My Hand, I Can Hear The Ghosts Calling

 _And Shartan told her: "I cannot rest  
While the People wait in darkness and fear."_

 _-_ Canticle of Shartan

Abigail and Julius

"A word?" Solas asked as he hastily walked past the two Inquisitors. Following him outside the castle onto the mountainside, Julius and Abigail couldn't help but wonder what had made him suddenly wish to speak with them in private.

"Alright, enough. What's this about!" Julius finally stopped, they were well outside the castle and it was freezing and he was no longer in the mood for wandering.

"Very well, we should be far away enough from prying eyes and ears." Solas stated flatly, Abigail sensed he was slightly annoyed with her brother.

"The orb Corypheus carried, the orb he used to open the Breach, it is an elven artifact." Solas stated plainly, the weight of this truth hitting Abigail more clearly than her brother.

"Okay? How do you know that and why do I care?" Julius spoke before his mind could stop his mouth.

"I suppose you _**should care**_ , Inquisitor, for what that knowledge means. Do you think the humans will take that news lightly? Do you suppose no innocents will be harmed once this comes to light?" Solas inquired back harshly.

"Solas, how do you know about this?" Abigail earnestly asked, catching the other two off guard.

"I have seen it in the Fade, of course. They are ancient objects, meant to be used as foci for magic power." Solas obliged.

"And how did Corypheus use it to open the Breach?" She pressed.

"I do not know. My knowledge of ancient Tevinter magic and blood magic is limited, at best." Solas conceded.

"Well, there you go. The elves will be safe because it was the darkspawn blood mage that actually caused the Breach. It would be stupid to blame the smith of a sword for all the deaths caused by it. You cannot blame a tool for the wielder's actions, and you definitely cannot blame the creator of the tool especially if it isn't being used for the intended purpose." Julius huffed, he hated when Solas scolded him, which was quite often since the elf tended to think before he spoke unlike Julius.

"Well, not all minds think as you do, I fear many will blame the elves for this." Solas countered, the logic was not quite solid enough for him.

"I won't let that happen. They can't blame the descendants for the forefathers being bastards who made something that a myth could turn into a weapon. This is all just a joke to even contemplate." Something seemed to have touched a nerve for Julius.

"At any rate. Thank you for telling us Solas, we will keep this knowledge to ourselves for now. I think we should focus more on Corypheus and his evils than who should be punished for it, because if it came down to it, wouldn't 'the hubris of man' be the real fault in all this?" Abigail suggested, calming the argument.

"Then I take my leave." Solas stated as he began to walk away.

"Wait! I've been meaning to ask you something, if you don't mind, that is..." Abigail started confidently, but then began to shy away.

"What is it you wish to know?" Solas inquired, he was not unreasonable, and he did value those who had an open mind to learn.

"Well, as a mage, I've always had vivid dreams of the Fade, but recently, I feel as if I am being shown things by the spirits of the Fade. I can see things, I'm not sure whether they are the past, or present, or what they are, but..." Abigail couldn't find the words to finish her thought, but now she had Solas very intrigued.

"Hey! Yeah! You told me we would discuss it further later!" Julius remembered the conversation he'd had in the dream with Solas.

"Well, it seems you both have a great attachment to the Fade due to your mark. I should think you might have more control over what the spirits show you since you are a mage, Abigail. I would advise you to tread carefully in your dreams, lest you should plunge too far into the Fade. But we can investigate this further tonight in the Fade itself. I can help you to focus and explore safely. Meet me back in the rotunda tonight, if you wish. Remember, spirits can help you only when you ask them to behave in their true nature, do not try to force a spirit against its will. " Solas warned, though he seemed genuinely pleased by the happenings.

"Yeah, yeah, what am I a mage now?" Julius scoffed.

"No, but you dream like one, even if it is at a novice level." Solas replied coldly.

"Hm, well, that does clear some things up. I will try to be careful, extra careful, that is." Abigail stated, then began to shuffle and shiver from the cold.

"I would advise you not tell the Templars you so generously recruited, they would likely frown upon the fact that a non-mage could convene with the spirits so easily." Solas advised Julius, who rolled his eyes that Solas was still angered by him recruiting the Templars.

"Have it your way. Come on, Abby. Let's get back inside." Julius dismissed and the three went their separate ways back inside the castle.

Josephine and Cullen

"No, no, no. Just pretend I'm not here! Nobody can know I'm here. I don't want to be dragged back to Denerim." Alistair swung his hand back and forth in front of him as he tried to convince Josephine.

"We can hardly just act like you are not here, my lord. Anyhow, you were seen by so many of our soldiers last night in the tavern, so I am told." She countered, she was highly unaccustomed to nobility who did not want special treatment.

"They didn't know who I was, c'mon. They probably just figured me for some Ferelden recruit who happened to know the Champion, that's all." Alistair insisted, and where it might have been true, Josephine was not convinced.

"Surely, you must know we cannot just pretend the king of Ferelden is not here? If we were to do that, then when it is discovered, it will look as though the Inquisition is in the practice of kidnapping rulers. We have enough trouble brewing within the Orlesian Empire to upset Ferelden as well. We cannot have the whole of the south erupt into chaos." Josephine eloquently countered, and honestly her point was entirely valid.

"Well, in that case, isn't it too late then?" Gaius slyly interjected as he and his brother walked in on the discussion with Cullen behind them.

"What do you mean?" Josephine inquired.

"Well, at this point, you've already got the king of Ferelden here and none of his people know about it. And all your people already know the Champion is here, but do we really want the world to know it was the Champion of Kirkwall who kidnapped the king of Ferelden for the Inquisition?" Gaius replied, his smirk growing.

"Wh- but that is not-" Josephine stammered, the implications of that now beginning to run through her head.

"Don't forget, the Inquisition's commander bloodied the king's face!" Liam added, and Josephine began to have a mild crisis in her head.

"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" Cullen uselessly protested.

"I- I suppose that would be an unfortunate thing..." Josephine began trying to find a way to diplomatically settle this matter, though that was becoming increasingly more difficult.

"Then, there isn't a problem if say, a Ferelden recruit came to join the Inquisition, right?" Gaius offered, shrugging his shoulders.

"There is a very big problem with that! Some of our recruits are from Denerim, some have been to the many events there guarding nobles and serving them. He will be recognized. This is a matter of whether we wait until the information is spread publicly by us, or spread through more subtle means without our direct knowledge. I simply cannot make statements saying otherwise when the real truth will be revealed anyway." Josephine was trying to get them to understand the point.

"Then he doesn't stay with or near the soldiers. Simple." Gaius refuted, duplicity was the Hawkes' game after all.

"We have visitors from Ferelden, nobles, Banns, an Arl on occasion, we cannot-" Josephine was starting to get exasperated and it was showing, which actually concerned Cullen slightly, she was never this flustered.

"Look, he can stay in our tower. He'll just be one of our distant cousins if anyone asks. Problems all solved. Don't worry about it." Liam stated, patting Josephine on the shoulder to comfort her.

"That does not solve this problem." She replied, slightly less than respectfully.

"Look, if we can convince an entire city state, no all of Thedas, that there is only one of us, we can keep it quiet that the King of Ferelden is here." Gaius stated, he was done arguing about this and it showed.

"Josephine, just trust them. There are many secrets they have all kept that Thedas doesn't know yet." Cullen interjected, he knew exactly how exhausting dealing with Hawke could be, and he knew also that there are some secrets that can be kept if you try hard enough.

"I- I leave it to you, Commander." Josephine finally relented, sighing as she turned to walk away towards her office.

"That's it, Cullen!" Liam hit Cullen on the back forcefully in a friendly gesture.

"Please, try not to break our Ambassador." Cullen grumbled, shifting his back from the hit, then he turned and left for his office.

"So, uh, hey, Cullen? Where are the Mabari kept around here?" Liam asked, following Cullen with the other two.

"They aren't kept anywhere." Cullen replied, not really thinking about it and then he suddenly realized his mistake.

"What?" Gaius questioned, he could scarcely believe what was being said.

"We don't keep them anywhere, we don't have any-" Cullen began to attempt to explain, but was cut off by Alistair and Liam.

"WHAT!? You don't have any Mabari!?" Alistair and Liam both exclaimed, causing Cullen to pinch the bridge of his nose while every person within eye sight was glancing over quickly at the outburst.

"Look, this isn't the Ferelden army, we can't just have Mabari wandering around among the Orlesians and nobility, someone will be attacked. And besides, we don't have a master trainer nor do we have- we just don't have any Mabari, okay?" Cullen explained, but he was met with unimpressed looks from his audience.

"So you asked, and everyone else over ruled you, eh?" Gaius hit the nail on the head.

"I- well, yes. There was great concern over offending the Orlesian nobility and making us seem like a joke." Cullen finally relented, he was still angered about it, as any decent Ferelden would be.

"Damn Orlesians. The only thing they are good for is cheese." Alistair begrudged shaking his head.

"Well, that explains some things, like why it was so easy to break in. A Mabari would've been on us immediately, but there aren't any here." Liam voiced aloud mostly to himself, but Cullen's eye twitched at hearing it.

"Yes, well, I need to get back to work." Cullen dismissed as he continued to walk to his office.

"Okay, we need to get him a Mabari." Liam stated, and the other two agreed.

"We've got plenty in Denerim, but getting one here would be impossible at this point. Plus, he really needs to be there at the birth so one can pick him. I don't think there are any litters coming up... what? I married a Highever girl!" Alistair defended, and the brothers nodded their heads in acceptance, pedigree and breeding are very important in Highever, as far as dogs or humans are concerned. The plot to get Cullen a Mabari was still unsolved, but the three proceeded into Cullen's office after him anyway, they would figure out logistics eventually.

"Why are you following me?" Cullen wearily asked, though he was almost sure he didn't want to know.

"We're here because we were given a message for you. Alistair followed for no apparent reason." Gaius replied giving Alistair a side eye.

"What message? From who?" Cullen inquired, now a bit concerned.

"Liam, if you would." Gaius suggested, holding his hand towards Cullen. At the suggestion, Liam walked over and wrapped Cullen up in a giant bear hug, which Cullen stiffened on receiving.

"Wha- Why in the Maker's name are you hugging me!?" Cullen demanded angrily.

"That was the message. Simple, right? You- know-who sent it. Said if we saw you, give you a hug." Gaius smirked, both he and Liam got a measure of satisfaction from making Cullen uncomfortable, but they had honestly received such a message.

"I got the same message, but only you guys are devoted enough to deliver it." Alistair laughed.

"Gave me a silver to deliver it." Gaius shrugged.

"Wow, you really will do just about anything for money..." Alistair shook his head in disbelief.

"Okay. Now let me go." Cullen spoke uncomfortably.

"Sir, here is the... uh..." a soldier burst into the office and then was extremely confused to see the Commander wrapped in a giant hug from the tall red haired man.

"That's our cue." Gaius said, saluting as he walked out the door followed by Alistair and Liam who were both laughing now.

"Uh... sir?" the soldier questioned.

"You don't want to know, trust me." Cullen warned as he held his hand out for the report the soldier held.

Julius and Josephine

Josephine sighed loudly as she sat at her desk, this was bound to end in failure and disgrace. It was a political nightmare, a scandalous one at that, and there was nothing she could do about it but wait.

"You look like you could use a day off." Julius stated from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Oh, Inquisitor, I did not hear you come in, my apologies." Josephine regained her composure now that she knew she was not alone.

"You wanna get some fresh air? Take a stroll with me around the castle?" Julius inquired, a confident smile on his face.

"Oh, no, I couldn't. But if you would like a formal tour, I can arrange it with our staff. Maybe you want to look over our improvements?" Josephine diplomatically replied, missing the real intent behind the suggestion.

"Oh, uh, no, that's okay, that's not really what I meant..." Julius started to stammer. How did she miss that?

"Oh, well then, can I help you with anything else?" Josephine asked tilting her head ever so slightly, the picture of beautiful ignorance.

"No, I guess not. I'll just leave you to your work..." Julius sighed as he gave up for now, he was going to have to rethink his strategy here, Josephine seemed oblivious to his advances, that or she was very adept at evading them, he needed to figure out which it was.

"Actually, would you mind entertaining a guest with me at dinner tonight?" Josephine asked, and it instantly brightened his mood back up.

"Of course, Lady Montilyet, it would be my pleasure." He suavely agreed, and Josephine blushed slightly at being addressed like so.

"I thank you. I shall see you at dinner then." She politely ended the conversation and resumed her writing. Julius walked out of her office with an extra spring in his step at having been invited to dinner by Josephine, he'd actually been so excited he hadn't even asked whom it was that they were entertaining that night.

Alistair and Leliana

"So, you really don't know?" Alistair sighed dejectedly as he sat down.

"Neither do you, it seems." Leliana observed, a concerned look on her face.

"I was hoping you were being paranoid and not writing me back the truth." Alistair smirked, but his eyes told the real story.

"You know, I wouldn't have kept her from you, I'd have delivered the letter myself if I knew where she was. I really don't know though. We thought it was related to Hawke, but we discovered that to be a grand coincidence." Leliana chided gently.

"Yeah, I already figured that out." Alistair agreed nodding his head slowly.

"You don't think that-" Leliana began, but she wasn't sure how to finish the sentence.

"No! No... Oh, Maker, I hope not." Alistair replied, shaking his head, seemingly trying to convince himself.

"I'm sure you're right. Orzammar would have told us if she had been sighted." Leliana consoled, rubbing Alistair's shoulder.

"I'm going to pretend that the only way there is through Orzammar." Alistair quipped, hanging his head.

"I do all the time." Leliana admitted.

"So, you haven't heard from-?" Alistair questioned but was cut off by Leliana.

"No." She hastily replied as she shook her head slightly as a sign to not speak on the subject further.

"It's been 5 months, where could she have gone?" Alistair asked, more to The Maker, and less to anyone present.

"Do you have any idea why she left?" Leliana asked tentatively, she wanted an answer, but didn't want to broach the subject too directly.

"Maker! I don't know, Leliana! I woke up one morning and she was gone! Nothing, not a note, a hint, nothing!" Alistair frustratedly shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

"Alistair." Leliana put a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder to try to calm him.

"Sweet Maker, Leliana, I don't know. Things... Things have been difficult since... since then. You know how she is, she just builds walls and nobody can... I don't know. I guess I just didn't expect her to leave..." Alistair spoke, his voice shaky as he hung his head into his hands.

"Oh, you dear boy." Leliana said as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"(Dorian! Stop eavesdropping!)" Abigail chided in a faint whisper.

"(My dear Inquisitor! I would never!)" He feigned indignation.

"(Dorian!)" Abigail had a rather cute angry glare as she whispered harshly at him.

"(Okay then, but I didn't see you stop earlier.)" Dorian suggested under his breath as he wandered back to his chair. Abigail rolled her eyes as she sighed and left the library.

Cullen

"We need to shore up defenses, here and here. And we need more look-outs posted on these four sections of wall. I want double the amount of eyes on our walls, we need to be impervious to attack, from a large force or small." Cullen ordered his lieutenants, who listened and did as bid.

As they left Cullen continued to scour over reports from the field, but his mind remained focused on the discussion with Liam from earlier.

"Easy to break in, huh? I'd like to see him say that now. I won't fail to defend the Inquisition again." Cullen grumbled to himself. His pensive thoughts were interrupted by a faint voice carried on the wind.

"~...Carries their song, across the sands. Heed our words, hear our cry, the grey are sworn...~" The voice sang. Cullen couldn't help but be drawn to it, he knew that song, they sang it often in Kirkwall and they had sung it just after the Blight ended in Ferelden too. But who was singing it? He was compelled to find out.

Walking out onto the battlements, he noticed Abigail sitting on the half wall her legs hanging over the outside as she swung her head while singing.

"~Heed our words, hear our cry, our names recalled, we cannot die~" She continued to sing, oblivious that anyone could hear her or that they were paying attention.

Quietly Cullen approached her, he didn't want to startle her for fear she might fall over the wall, he also enjoyed hearing her sing, he hadn't heard it before.

"~When the darkness comes, and swallows light, heed our words, and we shall rise~" She concluded as Cullen had gotten right behind her.

"You've got a beautiful voice, Inquisitor." Cullen stated, grabbing her arms to steady her as she jumped from the sudden voice.

"Oh, no. I'm not that good. I'm sorry you heard that. I didn't think anyone could hear me up here, I'm sorry." Abigail tried to sound more embarrassed than terrified while she spoke to Cullen.

"Ballad of Ayesleigh, right? Sorry to have startled you, I didn't want you to fall over the wall." Cullen stated, as he helped her down.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't even think about that. I'm so dumb..." Abigail sighed, looking at her feet.

"Probably just me being paranoid. Don't concern yourself over it." Cullen said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Maker, he hadn't meant to make her feel bad and by Andraste she was not dumb.

"I- I won't do that again. I'm sorry." Abigail apologized quickly as she turned to leave.

"You don't need to apologize, I was only concerned for your safety. I'm sorry. Forgive me for bothering you, Inquisitor." Cullen looked down as he replied, he didn't know why she didn't like him, but she had always been distant since they'd been formally introduced. Maybe he was too curt and abrasive like Josephine said...?

"Cullen. Do you... do you hate mages?" Abigail asked, still turned away from him.

"Do I hate-? Maker, no! I mean, that's a complicated answer. There was a time after the Blight that I distrusted all mages, and that was unfair of me, Hawke helped me to see that. I- No. I do not hate mages." Cullen tried to answer truthfully. Did she think he hated her on principle? That would explain her distance.

"I see. Do you... Could mages ever be free?" Abigail asked, she tensed more with every question.

"Are they not now? Are you asking if I agree with how you brought the mages into the Inquisition? I already said my piece on that, but what is done is done, and the mages have been good allies, as have the Templars." Cullen spoke, staying true to his beliefs.

"... I see." Abigail whispered as she started to take a step away.

"Are you alright, Inquisitor? What is this all about, really?" Cullen asked as he instinctively grabbed her hand to stop her. She cringed as he grabbed her, stiffening her arm. Cullen relented, releasing his grasp on her hand. By the Maker, she hated him, but her reaction, was she afraid of him? Why?

"I- I apologize if I have ever done anything to offend or frighten you." Cullen said in a stoic monotone as he bowed and then turned, leaving. Abigail froze. That wasn't her intent. She bit her lip, then turned to face towards him, tears barely being contained.

"Cullen! I don't hate you! I- I don't know, I'm not good with talking like Julius, I can't speak, I'm not good at... I'm glad you don't hate mages!" She burst, still unable to express her feelings fully.

"I'm glad I haven't offended you then, Inquisitor." Cullen smiled back at her, and as she met his smile with her own, they both blushed profusely and then went their separate ways.

"I can't believe I actually talked to him like that!" Abigail whispered to herself excitedly as she began skipping along.

"I can't believe she smiled at me." Cullen thought to himself as he paused for a moment.

Julius and Josephine

The hours had slowly ticked away the whole day, but now he was on his way to the exquisite dining hall about to have dinner with the most beautiful woman in Thedas. He couldn't be happier, never mind there would be some boring noble to entertain while he was there, that couldn't dampen his spirits tonight, no matter who it was. He smiled as he opened the doors to the room, only for his eyes to see what awaited him there and his heart sank to his stomach in unforgotten horror.

"My lord Inquisitor, allow me to introduce Lady Mauvais De Femme of Val Royeaux, she will be dining with us tonight." Josephine introduced a slightly puzzled look on her face as she saw the color begin to drain from Julius' face.

"Oh, my dear Ambassador you did not tell me our dear Inquisitor Trevelyan was joining us. But I must confess, we are old acquaintances, are we not, dear boy? I am most delighted, I have not seen you since you were, was it 14, dear child?" Lady Mauvais spoke through her mask, the room seemed to get colder with every word.

"I was not yet 13." Julius stated, his eyes looking to the side as he spoke, his discomfort becoming more evident by the moment.

"Ah, yes, you were such a strapping young lad. I was most devastated to not receive word from you about your father's unfortunate passing. I had to light a candle for him in the Grand Cathedral nearly two weeks after, how barbaric!" The lady condemned.

"Shall we?" Josephine inquired, she wanted to move things along. She didn't know why Julius was uncomfortable, but she knew enough of The Game to know that the woman in their company was toying with the Inquisitor, she wasn't quite sure why. She also had no idea that the two had met previously, why hadn't he said anything? Lady Mauvais had considerable assets and would have been an invaluable ally. Josephine knew she'd have to play if she wanted to find out more.

"Ah, yes, let us not waste such finery." Lady Mauvais agreed as she began to sit at the table.

"Dear Inquisitor, you should sit next to me, darling. I so enjoy your company, don't you remember?" as the Lady spoke, Josephine saw Julius tense up, she could see he did not want to do as he was bid so she interceded for him.

"Oh, I do apologize, my lady, but our Inquisitor must sit on the other side close to the door in case he should be called away on important business. I am certain you understand." Josephine was a master of the dance of The Grand Game.

"Ah, yes, business before pleasure, your father used to say the same, as I recall, lord Inquisitor." The Lady commented, a thinly veiled stab at Julius, Josephine could see. Julius simply smiled and nodded slightly as he took his seat, still not looking at Lady Mauvais directly.

Dinner was rather uninteresting, the lady taking to talking with Josephine through it and not making veiled comments to Julius through the meal, though he was unusually quiet and taciturn.. Josephine wanted to end the night as quickly as possible as she saw the mounting tension in Julius, but every dance must be performed in step to the song, so the night continued as they sat in a lounge and discussed business, the Inquisition, and Orlais' Civil War.

"It is getting to be too late, I must retire now." The lady finally stated as she rose from her chair.

"Please escort the Lady Mauvais to her chamber." Josephine waved to an attendant as she too rose from her seat. Julius stood as well, in polite fashion, as the lady bid Josephine goodnight. She then walked over to Julius who stood stiff like a statue and hugged him much to Josephine's shock. Hugging was not a court appropriate gesture in Orlais, the kiss she gave Julius on the cheek was, but not the hug.

"Goodnight, my dearest." Lady Mauvais spoke as her hand traced down Julius' arm, he shuddered involuntarily as she did so, then she left with the attendant.

"I do not understand, what was wrong with Lady Mauvais tonight? She was rather... odd, do you agree?" Josephine inquired walking over to Julius, who was still pale and statuesque.

"She was very hostile, does your family have bad blood with-!?" Josephine began to inquire, but was surprised by Julius who embraced her in a hug and buried his face in her shoulder.

"Lord Trevelyan...?" Josephine inquired after a moment.

"Please, please, never invite her here again, Lady Montilyet." Julius managed to choke out, though she couldn't tell whether he was just upset or actually in tears.

"As you wish, Inquisitor." Josephine promised, her hands embracing him back. She had never seen this side of him before, he had appeared to be a scared child all night and she was now determined to figure out what the Lady Mauvais had done to Lord Trevelyan in his youth that made him so terrified of her.

"Are you alright, my lord?" Josephine asked after some more time passed as he continued to hug her, the length of the embrace was becoming awkward now.

"Just a moment more, please." Julius whispered, and Josephine nodded her head slightly in agreement, in truth she would have stood there like that all night had he asked.

"Forgive my conduct, Lady Montilyet. Now, I will take my leave." Julius stated coldly as though he were a completely different person. He turned and walked out the exit opposite where the lady had left.

After Julius left, Leliana stepped out of the shadows toward Josephine, giving a slightly incredulous look to Josephine as she spoke.

"My, my, embracing the Inquisitor, are we? How scandalous." Leliana teased Josephine, but she actually was slightly concerned about the whole affair.

"Leliana, what do your people know about Lady Mauvais de Femme?" Josephine inquired, ignoring the teasing.

"Not enough, it seems. We missed the connection she had with the Trevelyans, which means someone went through great pains to hide it from everyone. I will send my agents to uncover more. The question remains though, did Lord Trevelyan cover it up or did Lady Mauvais? You may not wish to know the answers to a secret such as this." Leliana replied, her tone serious now.

"I would appreciate you investigating it further. In fact, investigate everything surrounding the late Lord Trevelyan, his death, and his contacts so I get no more surprises when meeting with guests with our Inquisitors. But, please, do not mention any of this to anyone other than your agents, this matter should be handled delicately." Josephine was not one to actively spy on someone, but for this case, she would make an exception.

"Very well, I will get you reports soon." Leliana bowed her head slightly as she left towards the rookery to send out her orders.

Julius and Abigail

"We're all here now. Let's get this over with." Julius huffed as he entered the room. He was usually rather abrasive, but he seemed more so tonight, like he was upset for some reason. Maybe it was the conversation he'd had with them earlier? He and Solas got along okay, but they had their differences all the same. Abigail wasn't sure, but she wasn't close enough with her twin to ask him about it either, she thought.

"Yes, of course. We should begin, however, by drinking this." Solas spoke with very little emotion as he handed each of them a cup with a strange smelling liquid in it. Both Abigail and Julius looked at each other, then gulped it down.

"Ugh! What was that swill?" Julius exclaimed, gagging from the drink.

"A simple sleep potion." Solas replied dryly.

"You gave us a sleep potion!? Why would... you... do... tha..." Julius tried to argue, but passed out before he was finished.

 _Opening their eyes, they were back in Skyhold, only now they were at the gates, just the two of them, Abigail and Julius. They looked around for a moment before they heard the gate opening and Solas appear walking out through the opened gate._

 _"I gave you a sleeping potion so we could begin the exploration of the Fade here, at Skyhold. How else were you planning to start dreaming? Do not be alarmed, I put wards up so we shan't be disturbed." Solas remarked as he arrived, answering Julius' question from before._

 _"You could have explained a few more things first." Julius grumbled, he wasn't much for surprises._

 _"Why not explain them here where you could see with your own eyes what I am speaking of?" Solas inquired, his tone was always slightly dismissive as though he knew all the answers and wondered why everyone else did not._

 _"Where do we start? Or, um, how?" Abigail questioned, she was eager to learn more about dream walking and asking spirits for knowledge. That was forbidden in the Circle, all spirits were considered demons there and speaking to them was asking for the Templars to behead you. So this was a new adventure, and she couldn't wait to uncover more knowledge._

 _"First we will begin here, at Skyhold, and ask the spirits for knowledge of this place. It is very old, full of memory." Solas spoke, touching the stone walls, his voice had almost a hint of sadness to it._

 _"So what in the Maker's name do we do now? Whistle for a spirit?" Julius scoffed, his disgust for the endeavor showing. He didn't understand all this Fade bullshit, nor did he really care to, he just wanted answers on why he had weird dreams, but this was a lot of shit to get through for an answer._

 _"We will start with a fairly novice approach. Here, the stone. This masonry is old, feel it? Concentrate on the walls, focus your mind on them, this will call the more curious spirits that wish to help you discover more about the stones." Solas instructed, and Abigail hurried to do as he suggested while Julius seemed to roll his eyes and halfway attempt it._

 _Closing her eyes, Abigail touched the stone, her mind focused on feeling the stone, the coldness of it, whispers of words began to creep into her mind, fragments of thought._

 _"Ferelden...? It's Ferelden." She stated aloud, drawing a confused look from Julius, who then tried to double his own efforts, his mind focusing on Ferelden._

 _"Yes, good. The spirits have begun to speak to you. Listen, but do not ask, to ask for too much knowledge will attract desire or hunger demons to you, though the magic here should protect us." Solas warned, he was pleased with how quickly Abigail had been able to hear the whispers. Abigail continued her focus, a name came to her mind, and then a flood of knowledge, "Highever. The stones are from Highever. They were stolen, it was attacked. I want to see-" Abigail began to push her focus past the stones themselves, her thoughts pushed toward Highever and her hand began to spark with energy._

 _"No! Stop! You're pushing too far!" Solas warned trying to reach out to her, but he was too late, she disappeared into the vastness of the Fade._

 _"Ferelden. Ferelden. Stone in Ferelden. Stone Towers. Ferelden towers. Tower." Julius muttered trying to concentrate, he hadn't heard Solas call out to Abigail, nor did he hear him calling to him now. His hand too glowed with power and he also became lost to the Fade._

A/N: So, yeah, I'm gonna do a TON more Fade exploration with Solas, because, just a one shot of Solas going "Oh wow, you can explore the Fade even though you are a (fighter, rogue, dwarf, qunari, ect). wow, impressive. (We will never speak of this again or acknowledge it further.)" is lame. LAME! So, yeah, I'm going to jump off the abyss like Hawke and see where I land... (Hopefully not in a crumbled up pile of continuity errors and confusing twists, but hey, it could happen.) And yeah, I changed how long the Hero of Ferelden has been missing, you will see why... eventually... Oh! If you speak French, I am terribly sorry if I butchered your language. I just needed an Orlesian name, and well... It does kinda hit the nail on the head... Maybe it is too obvious, but we will just tell Frieda it is the right amount of obvious. (bonus points if you get THAT reference.) Anyhow... I'm going to try to focus more on the developing relationships among the companions soon, but it wont really be next chapter, just fyi. Also going to try to compile a list of ages, so people aren't confused by the ages anymore. Going to try to stay canon, but... I will jump off that bridge as necessary... Yeah, I do love a good cliffhanger. *evil laughter*

Enjoy the early update! (It won't happen next week, lol.)


	6. Chapter Six

A/N: TRIGGER WARNING! Consider this fair warning there are references to themes that the reader may find disturbing. Consider yourself warned. I will try to post warnings at the beginnings of chapters that deal with heavy subject matter. Thank you.

Also, I apologize, my updates will be sporadic for a while, I have some personal stuff going on and there is nothing I can do to prevent this, so, I apologize. Thanks y'all. Enjoy, and look out for those twists! Damn.

Chapter 6: We Are The Lost People Standing At The End Of The Night

 _Mighty of arm and warmest of heart,  
Rendered to dust. Bitter is sorrow,  
Ate raw and often, poison that weakens and does not kill. _

-Canticle of Andraste

Dorian and Solas

"What do you mean you lost them!?" Dorian shouted at the elf.

"I came back to request your assistance, not your consternation. And please, let us not shout and alert the Templars, shall we?" Solas coldly replied in hushed tones. He disliked working with the Tevinter, but he required assistance and none of the Circle mages would be of use, especially not Vivienne.

"Well, if what you told me when you asked for my help earlier is true, we may not have much choice but to involve them." Dorian spat back, hushed as well. He did not like his "darling girl" being lost in the Fade, especially not after Solas had told him the Inquisitors were both especially tied to it, attraction to the Fade meant greater attraction to demons and possession as well, this he knew.

"Looking for them in the Fade will be almost hopeless unless we have some tether, something linked to them to bring them back... I have heard of using blood magic to bring people out of the Fade, though I do not know the practice myself." Solas explained, trying to formulate a plan to bring the two back.

"Can't they come back on their own? How long can we afford to wait to see?" Dorian huffed, Solas had no idea the issues he was about to cause with this little experiment.

"They are both humans-" Solas began.

"I know that! How long can we keep this quiet?" Dorian was very frustrated as he cut Solas off, he knew the situation was dire, he just was not sure exactly how much time they had.

"They are humans, but from what I have observed, they seem to be in a deep sleep-like state unable to be awoken by normal measures. The ancient elves referred to it as Uthenera, or the eternal dream. I know a human could not survive it, modern elves cannot, which is why it is now linked with death by the Dalish." Solas attempted to make Dorian understand the strangeness and direness of the situation.

"I would ask how you know this, but your answer will be woefully uninformative jargon about a Fade spirit telling you, so I will instead say this, you had best pray to the Maker that they awaken soon. I will exhaust the pitiful resources of the library to attempt to come to a solution myself, I suggest you utilize everything in your power to try to find them." Dorian concluded as he went to go get any research from the library that had any vague mention of escaping the Fade, he'd have handed a blood mage a medal at that point if it would get the Inquisitors back.

Abigail

 _The cold stone turned to warm, then hot as she opened her eyes. She was in a castle, though it was no longer Skyhold, and it was aflame. She could hear the shouts of soldiers along with the din of a battering ram plunging into the gates of the castle. She tried to find any identifying mark of the castle, anything to tell her where the spirits were showing her. Finally, she came upon a shield, fallen along with its bloodied owner on the ground. The shield bore a crest, two laurels in a circular pattern over a blue background. She was sure Josephine would be able to tell her who that crest belonged to. Looking up, she saw a few figures rush into the doorway before her, and somehow, she knew they were important, so she followed. The room they had entered was the kitchen, there were three bodies lying in pools of their own blood inside, two elves, and one old human woman. When she looked at the old woman, she briefly saw a flash of a figure of a small crimson haired girl sitting in the lap of the woman as the woman told a tale of some sort, but soon the brief memory faded back to the gruesome scene._

 _"Listen... you must... pup..." She heard a man's voice saying something from the room still before her, and she moved inside to see a man dragging away a screaming crimson haired girl away from a severely wounded man and a woman kneeling beside him._

 _"No, I won't leave you! Mother! Father! I'll kill anyone who enters here! I'll save you!" the girl screamed as she clawed and struggled against the tall bearded man._

 _"We love you, our darling girl. You make us both so proud." The injured man and woman tearfully called to her, and closed their eyes as the bearded man knocked the girl unconscious and carried her out a secret hatch in the floor, a giant dog followed behind them. Abigail was overcome by the raw emotion she felt, she could feel the despair, tears pouring down her face as she watched the scene play out. She closed her eyes and pressed her mind to pursue the girl. She didn't want to linger in a place too full of raw emotion, demons would haunt this part of the Fade before long._

Julius

 _"...a tower?" Julius mumbled to himself as he opened his eyes to see a tower in a lake. He stood at the precipice of a boat dock, and looking to his side, he saw a boat, so he did as any intrepid adventurer would, he took the boat and paddled toward the tower in the lake. As he paddled along, a brief flash of a memory overtook him, a crimson haired girl sat in a boat similar to his, along with a bearded man, a boy with red hair and a huge dog. The girl looked sinister while the boy had a hopeful look on his face, the bearded man had a stoic look on his face, while the dog panted happily. The hopeful boy reached out his arm and hugged the crimson haired girl to his side in a friendly gesture. Her face distorted from an evil look to a piteously sad one, openly weeping, ugly gasps and wails escaping her hoarse throat as she shuddered from crying._

 _"You looked like you needed a hug. Go ahead, let it all out. We won't tell anyone, will we, Duncan?" The boy remarked as he smiled back to the bearded man. And just like that, the memory disappeared and he was sitting alone in the lake once more. So on he continued, toward the tower._

Dorian

Dorian was flying through books, scouring the pages for knowledge, while Solas sat in a meditative position desperately trying to reach out to the Inquisitors in the Fade. Dorian looked up hastily as he heard the outer door open, his eyes widening as he saw Cullen walk in.

"What- what's going on in here?" Cullen questioned, his brow furrowing as he looked around at the disheveled books and the three unconscious people lying in the rotunda.

"Oh, just a small experiment, nothing to worry about." Dorian tried to deflect serious inquiry.

"What do you mean an experiment? Why is Julius here?" Cullen growled, he could see that something was amiss. If it had been only mages, he might have believed Dorian, but why was a non-mage here?

"Oh, we were just testing his connection to the Fade. He agreed to the test." Dorian explained but it was painfully obvious he was hiding something now.

"What's this? A sleeping potion?" Cullen asked as he picked up one of the cups on Solas' table and smelled the contents.

"Well, of course, we can't conduct an experiment on dreams without sleep." Dorian scoffed, he was worried how much longer he could distract Cullen. If Cullen figured out that they had lost the Inquisitors in the Fade and that meant that either or both Inquisitors could become possessed at any point, well, Dorian wasn't sure what the exact reaction would be, but he knew it wouldn't be good.

"Listen, Tevinter, you had best give me some real answers." Cullen warned as he grabbed Dorian's shirt in a threatening manner.

"It is as I have told you, a small experiment, nothing more." Dorian suggested, holding his hands out to the side in a non-threatening manner.

"Fenedhis lasa! I still cannot find them!" Solas cursed under his breath as he awoke.

"Can't find who?" Cullen inquired gruffly, still holding Dorian's shirt while he looked over at the elf. Dorian glared and made faces at Solas which was enough to convey that they were on the brink of Cullen doing something rash.

"Oh, no one, just a few friendly spirits I was trying to contact. I thought they might interest the Inquisitor, she had requested my help in contacting spirits with her." Solas covered, which would have been a fine cover for almost anyone else, but not Cullen.

"You want her to talk to demons now!? Is that what is happening here!? You're risking the Inquisitor by having her commune with demons!?" Cullen was outraged by this point.

"No, dear Commander, spirits. They are harmless unless-" Dorian tried to calm him, but was cut off.

"Unless they offer you something and you take it! Don't even lecture me about demons, Dorian!" Cullen snapped, then realized that still didn't explain why Julius was there, he was no mage, he had no connection to the Fade, unless... the Anchor!

"Maker's breath, you didn't just risk her, did you!?" Cullen exclaimed, sudden realization hitting him. "And they're the ones that are lost! How are they lost!?"

"No, as I said-" Solas began, but was cut off by Dorian.

"There's hardly any point in lying now, is there! Yes, we lost them. The experiment was a simple one, but their marks interfered, they disappeared into the Fade. We're trying to bring them back now before the Templars figure it out and destroy them both as abominations! So if you don't mind, I have work to do." Dorian huffed as he wrenched his shirt back from Cullen. Cullen stood in disbelief for a moment, his eyes hollow with retained terror before he finally regained his senses.

"How can I help?" Cullen asked, a question neither Solas nor Dorian were expecting to hear.

"Well, you were a Templar, you've been to a harrowing, act like it. Wait and watch." Dorian stated caustically, Cullen wouldn't have been much use attempting to translate ancient texts or magical jargon.

"Can we move them?" Cullen asked after a moment of thought, the rotunda was hardly secluded and there was a risk of imminent discovery by other members of the Inquisition, who may not have as much faith in an elven apostate and a Tevinter mage to have the best interests of the Inquisitors in mind. Dorian looked to Solas for an answer, and Solas thought for a moment before he responded.

Abigail

 _Opening her eyes again, she saw a familiar place. She was back in Denerim, back at the palace, though she couldn't understand why at first. Upon looking about the room, she saw a grand portrait of King Alistair standing beside a woman with crimson hair seated next to him, and then she realized that the woman was the girl from before, only older._

 _"Is she the Hero of Ferelden? The queen?" Abigail thought to herself as she looked at the painting. She was a beautiful woman, with crimson hair and deep brown eyes, her cheek bones well defined and her nose perfectly complemented her brow, both fragile and petite. Her face was beautiful, but cold. Abigail's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden bursting open of the double doors that lead into the room. Alistair stormed through the doors, then unceremoniously plopped down onto the wooden bench that sat next to the window. And leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, he covered his face with his hands._

 _Eventually he managed to whisper, "Maker, why? Why her...? Why this again...?"_

 _"My lord, the queen wishes to speak with you. ….my condolences on your loss, sire." The elven maid bowed as she left, her voice shaky at the last part._

 _Alistair continued to sit in the darkness, his hands still over his face, though Abigail could see the evidence of tears dripping to the ground. She reached her hand out towards him, even though she knew it was a dream of the Fade, she wanted to comfort him._

 _"My liege? Are you in here?" a voice called out, Abigail didn't recognize the voice, nor the dark haired man who said it as he appeared in the doorway._

 _"I'm here..." Alistair lamely replied, still in the same position as before._

 _"I hear my sister wishes to see you. Take your time." The man said._

 _"Fergus, what do I say to her? To Zephyr? What words do I have that will make this better...?" Alistair questioned, as he looked up at the other man._

 _"I shouldn't be here, this is a private moment. I'm intruding." Abigail thought to herself, she did not want to invade Alistair's privacy._

 _"There are no words that make this better, only time. I know all too well the pain of losing a child, but count your fortune you still have your wife." The other man spoke, walking over and looking out the window into the moonlight while he placed a hand on Alistair's shoulder._

 _"I- you... you're right, I'm a fool. You would... I just don't know what to say, or what to do, and those eyes, every time I see those beautiful eyes... it all comes back, all the pain, everything. I don't know if I can look at her, Fergus, it hurts so much right now." Alistair hung his head again as he vented._

 _"No, no, I shouldn't be here. Go back, go back, go back, go back!" Abigail frantically chanted, as she tried to escape by exiting the room, once outside however, she saw the crumpled form of a woman, sitting just beyond the door, her hands clasped to her mouth as tears streamed down her face. It was the crimson haired woman, it was Zephyr. She had been over-hearing the conversation._

 _"I'm sorry I failed again..." Zephyr whispered, then she stood and crept down the hallway wiping her eyes, she did not overhear the rest of the conversation._

 _"Be strong, my friend, she needs her husband." The other man urged as he patted Alistair's shoulder._

 _"She doesn't need me... She never has... She'd be better off not being with me, then maybe... I can't make this better. There's so much... I just want her to be happy." Alistair was trying to reign in his emotions now. Even though the pain here was very similar to the burning castle, it stabbed more harshly, more painfully, like a fresh wound. Abigail felt the distinct chill in the air, a demon lurked here. A demon of despair. Abigail scanned around her as the friendly spirits near her disappeared and fled from the demon that approached. The demon appeared, suddenly, with its back to Abigail's back, the icy chill it brought sent shivers down her spine. This demon was larger than the normal variety Abigail observed as she glanced back toward it. It was hunched over, sniveling and moaning, and didn't seem to notice Abigail was there. The demon stiffened quickly, a haunting voice echoing from it, "Give... me... your... tears!"_

 _Abigail jumped back, releasing a volley of electrical energy in her wake._

 _"You... cannot... defeat... me! Be swallowed... in despair!" the demon shrieked, unleashing a freezing maelstrom. Abigail countered, with a hastily cast barrier spell._

 _"I see it... The Circle... the Templar... Ser Skelm... I see your torment... I see your pain... Let it embrace you... Give in..." The demon howled, its words weakening the barrier as it grew in strength, the ice beginning to crack the magic._

 _"No! Don't say that name!" Abigail cried as she put her hands over her ears. Why? Why did it have to be a despair demon!?_

 _"I can see what he did... I see your despair... Let it take you... Let the ice flow through your veins... Become one with it..." The demon taunted._

 _"No! I won't!" Abigail whispered feebly as she tried to concentrate on keeping her barrier up. The demon knew her weakness. It knew about her past. She shook her head and clenched her eyes shut. She didn't want to see this, didn't want to hear it, didn't want to think about it. Just as her barrier shattered, she saw a warm light. The light showed her a familiar face with a scarred half smile on it._

 _"Begone Hope! You have no power over her!" The demon hissed angrily, attacking the warm spirit. The demon then turned its attention back to her, intent on destroying her, but Abigail had been saved. Reaching for the warmth, she pulled, her marked hand glowing as flames engulfed everything around her. Violently the demon shrieked as it burned, but with a confident smile, Abigail stated,_

 _"The future holds despair no longer, I am free from you and your ilk!"_

Julius

 _As he arrived at the tower, he could see Templars running straight for him, but passing through him as though he was a ghost, they chasing onward after a mage. It was a blond haired man who was swimming rapidly across the lake now, outpacing the Templars in their heavy armor._

 _"Why hasn't he been made Tranquil!?" a familiar Templar questioned, his voice gruff and unforgiving._

 _"The order has not yet been given, remember your place. Now, cross the lake and bring him back here!" An older Templar rebuked firmly._

 _Who was the mage? Julius blinked and he was in another location now, a coastal city from the smell and the sea breeze. He turned to see shadows moving into a dark alley, beyond him, and quickly he pursued. Turning the corner, he saw the two Hawke brothers with the blond mage from before between them, they were talking to two hooded figures._

 _"Oh, Anders, what happened to you?" one of the unknown figures spoke, a woman, as she hugged the blond mage. Julius moved closer and around the two unknown figures so he could see their faces. It was the crimson haired girl from before in the boat, though she was older, standing with her was King Alistair, who he finally recognized as the blond man from his first strange dream in the cave, in fact, they had both been there! She was the red haired woman with the dual longswords from that vision! Why did he see them then? Just who was she? Her face seemed familiar, like he had seen it in a portrait or such..._

 _"He can't stay in the Free Marches." Gaius stated levelly._

 _"Well, we can't keep him in Ferelden!" Alistair rebutted quickly._

 _"Anders, let me talk to him." the woman stated, ignoring the argument between Alistair and the Hawkes._

 _"I- I can't, he's not... I can't control..." Anders, the blond mage, looked away as he stammered his excuses._

 _"Anders." The woman spoke, a strength in her voice, as she pulled his face to look her in the eyes._

 _"Are you sure that's a good idea, dearest?" Alistair questioned, now more concerned for the woman than the previous argument._

 _Anders closed his eyes, and then opening them, they were filled with a glowing blue light._

 _"Who dares seek me!?" the booming voice was not Anders', though it came from his body, one could easily see he was possessed by something._

 _"Justice! Oh, I'm so sorry for everything!" the woman exclaimed, hugging Anders' body again._

 _"Warden Commander?" the voice replied, then the spirit disappeared back into its host, the magical energy dissipating._

 _"We will take care of them." The woman stated confidently._

 _"He blew up a Chantry! Killed a Revered Mother! He can't stay in Ferelden! We can't risk another war with Orlais right now!" Alistair tried to convince the woman._

 _"Alistair." She replied firmly as she met Alistair's eyes._

 _"Looks like it's settled then." Liam stated, confident the woman would win the disagreement, and he was correct._

 _"We'd best go now too. If you need us, tell Varric, he knows how to contact us." Gaius suggested, as he stepped back into the shadows and disappeared from sight._

 _"So, Anders went to Ferelden after the uprising started? What happened to him after that then? Where is he now?" Julius questioned to himself, he knew Anders was the mage who had destroyed the Kirkwall Chantry._

 _"Far beyond to Tevinter, Soldier's Peak, the depths of the Frostback Mountains, and still more." a voice replied in answer to his question._

 _"Now where to?" Julius asked, hoping the spirit with him would guide him further._

 _"Gallows." the voice replied and Julius pushed deeper into the darkness to discover more._

Abigail

 _"Understand." an ethereal voice whispered in her ear kindly, and she opened her eyes to see she was still in the Palace, though now she was in what she guessed to be the royal chamber. She could see Alistair in the bed, he was in a deep sleep with his silken covers tossed all about. The sight brought a faint smile to her face. Zephyr, queen of Ferelden, walked in and sat next to him on the bed, she was dressed in plain leather armor and a long cloak. Bending over, she kissed Alistair's forehead, before whispering, "I'm sorry, I have to go, for you, for me, for us both. I won't fail again." And Zephyr stood, placing a note on the bedside table, then turning, she walked past where Abigail stood and out through the door, shutting it behind her. The wind from the shutting door carried the small note through the room, until it landed underneath the cabinet on the far side of the room. Abigail stared intently at the fallen letter, it drew all her focus. The light around the note changed, and she could somehow tell that hours had passed since it had fallen, she could hear frantic footsteps and murmurs from the hallway, but still she concentrated on the paper, something in her told her it was of utter importance. Suddenly, a broom caught the note, a maid swept it out from under its hiding place. The maid picked it up, and not reading it, opened the cabinet and placed it in a drawer inside. Abigail waited as she saw several revolutions of the sun and moon take place, she wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she sensed it had been days, perhaps months. Finally the door opened again to the darkened room. It was Alistair, followed by Liam and herself, it was strange to watch her own past play out. She remembered now, following behind to this room, Alistair opened the cabinet on the far side and drew out a long cloak from it, but he did not open the drawer with the paper._

 _"Be good, Brisket." Alistair said as he patted a sleeping old Mabari on the head, the dog opened one eye as he did so and a faint wag of the dog's tail indicated that the dog had paid attention. And out the three of them left, off to Skyhold they traveled. Alistair, he never found it. He never saw Zephyr's note... Abigail stretched out her hand to open the drawer, to read it, but as she drew closer, she paused. It wasn't for her to know._

 _"He never saw the letter... I'm going to go back now." Abigail spoke with confidence and certainty. She closed her eyes once more, she could hear someone calling her back._

Julius

 _From the darkness he stepped, onto the cold hard stone. Grim statues depicting slaves and slavers lined the path he followed. He could hear muffled screams and the sound of armor and weapons clashing as he proceeded into a corridor. Faint torches lit narrow hallways and he could feel an air of discomfort in how closely the walls enclosed him. Looking out ahead, he saw a faint light guiding him further inside, so he hurried to follow it. The screaming stopped as well as the sounds of clashing arms, now muffled voices filled the air, and though he couldn't make out the words, he got the distinct impression that there were two voices, one trying to calm the other. He heard steps approaching rapidly behind him, so he picked up his own pace to run. Entering a large room, he saw a group of mages huddled behind someone who wore the robes of a First Enchanter of a Circle. Was he Orsino from Varric's book? Across from the enchanter was a group of 4 people, one was Gaius Hawke, another Anders, an elf girl was with them as was a human girl. The human girl bore a strong resemblance to Hawke. Hawke turned toward the door as he heard the doors open, Liam and a few more of their friends had arrived, Varric among them. Just then, Julius felt his ability to move stop, he was frozen, forced to stay and watch the scene play out._

 _"Quentin's research was too dangerous, too evil, so I put it aside..." The elven enchanter spoke, his voice filled with sinister hatred._

 _"Quentin!?" Gaius yelled as he turned again to look at Orsino, the name meant something, though Julius knew not what._

 _"If Meredith wants blood magic, we'll give her blood magic. Maker help us all." the elf spat as he took a dagger and slit open his wrist. The blood flowed forth, and the magic swirled around him, drawing in the bodies of the dead mages around him first, then the Circle mages nearby who were still living began to fall and be drawn in, so terrible was the spell. The human girl with Hawke, she held her hand to her head as blood dripped out her nose, ears, and eyes, her last words echoed out, "Brothers..."_

 _Julius cringed. That was Hawke's sister? But Varric's book had said she'd died in Ferelden!? He tried to will himself to leave or even move, but he could not._

 _"Bethany-!" Gaius shouted with horror struck eyes. He watched unable to prevent it as her form crumpled and was absorbed into the monstrous form of fleshy abomination the elven enchanter had conjured._

 _"No!" Liam bellowed, running the length of the room in a few strides. He didn't even draw his ax, he punched the creature with his armored fist, sending the creature stumbling backward from the blow. Gaius drew out both his daggers, spun them around, and then in one deft move charged toward the flailing horror. Leaping, he stabbed both daggers to the hilt into its chest, sending it crashing backwards once more. At being injured, the monster spewed forth blood, creating a magical shield and preventing the companions from joining the battle. The creature squealed and flailed at being injured, it caught both brothers with tentacles made of the entrails of its victims._

 _"Hawke!" The elf girl screamed as she saw Gaius drop one of his daggers, his arm hanging limply to the side as he was held aloft by one of the tentacles piercing through his shoulder._

 _"Fuck you." Liam spat as he ripped out the tentacle which had pinned him through his abdomen to the ground._

 _"Liam." Gaius coughed. He looked over at his brother, who slowly stood and reached for his great ax._

 _"Do it." Liam glared as he stated it. Gaius smirked as he stabbed his dagger through his own injured shoulder, the blood that now poured forth glowed an eerie red. Liam tensed his muscles as the magic of the blood seemed to flood to him, opening his eyes, they too glowed the same red._

 _"Blood magic!? Hawke is a mage!?" Julius exclaimed aloud, though no one he saw could hear him._

 _Liam's ax was surrounded in a sinister magic as he swung it sideways through the abomination, severing it in half. But it was not over, the rotten head of the creature formed grotesque legs of its own and began to scurry around the room. It's speed was too great for the wounded Liam, who was swinging his ax in blind rage now. Gaius had fallen to the ground once the body was destroyed, and now he fumbled to stand, blood gushing from his self-inflicted wound._

 _"Orsino... You bastard... Should've known not to... mess with... Hawke blood..." Gaius spat blood as he spoke. Wiping his own blood across his nose, Gaius used one more blood magic spell. Julius couldn't be sure exactly what happened, but the abomination stopped suddenly, writhing and contorting in pain. As soon as it stopped, Liam cleaved it into thousands of pieces with his ax, continuing long after it was dead. The barrier dissipated as soon as the abomination was dead, and as soon as it was, Gaius fell to the ground, unable to stand from his wounds. The elf girl ran over to Gaius as soon as he fell and the magic barrier faded, as did most all the other companions._

 _"Heal him, stupid mage!" Their angry elf companion ordered Anders as the guardswoman turned to face the door._

 _"Hawke." Varric said as he approached Liam. Liam still seemed like man possessed, he gripped his ax handle until his hand bled, then lifted it above his head and slammed it into the ground, breaking in two the ancient stone tile that covered the floor._

 _"Oh, Bethany... I... Ir abelas, ma vhenan." the elf girl cried holding onto Gaius, who sat as Anders healed his wounds. Gaius' face held a cold indifference on it, while Liam's face clearly burned with rage as he repeatedly slammed his ax into the ground._

 _"The Templars are coming." the guardswoman called back. Liam slammed his ax down again, ignoring her and making the crater he was creating larger. Varric's eyes assumed their usual look of masked grief as he watched Liam continue to take out his rage on the poor floor._

 _"Enough. Liam." Gaius spoke coldly as he stood, brushing the two attending to him away._

 _"I know!" Liam yelled back, hoisting his ax back to its place._

 _"One of you, burn this." Gaius ordered the two mages next to him as he pointed to the mass of flesh and bones and blood that once was every Circle mage in the room with them. The elf girl stood and whispered something in elven, but Julius could not hear it, then she lit the room on fire._

 _"Now what, Hawke?" A scantily clad, but very busty woman inquired, holding a dagger in her hand._

 _"Let's end this." Gaius stated, heading out toward the hallway followed by his brother and everyone else._

 _"What now!? Why can't I leave now!?" Julius shouted aloud. It had been forever it seemed since the scene had played out and the Hawkes and their companions had left, but still he couldn't move._

 _"You will never leave." a haunting voice echoed in his head. A demon! But where was it? And what kind? Julius willed himself to look around, and as he did he noticed rib-like claws surrounding him, crushing him. He couldn't move because he had already been trapped by the demon!_

 _"Ah, fear. Fear drives men to madness, men to despair, and men to desperation. Fear is all powerful and all consuming. You know of what I speak. I already hold your heart. I already see your frail tears cried into the darkness. You know me." The demon spoke, digging its claws deeper into Julius. He winced from the pain, and attempted to struggle free._

 _"Do not resist. Your existence feeds me, you cannot overcome me, mortal." The demon hissed, clawing Julius until he released a pained scream._

 _"Remember this pain? You surely do-" The demon gloated but was interrupted by a flash of green light._

 _"Julius, Come back!" A voice called out through the darkness._

Abigail and Cullen

She awoke to the brightness of daylight streaming in through the windows. They were in a different room now, not the rotunda, was it Julius' room? She winced from the light, and tried to pull her hand back, but something had caught it.

"Abi- Inquisitor!" Cullen exclaimed, releasing her hand.

"Dear girl, you've come back!" Dorian exclaimed, slamming shut the book he had been searching through.

"Was I lost?" Abigail questioned, as she moved to sit up, Cullen backing away to give her room.

"You didn't realize?" Solas inquired.

"No, I- I saw some strange things, some terrible things... Alistair! I need to tell him!" Abigail rubbed her head as she sat, then remembering the unread letter, she jumped to her feet, only to feel faint and fall into Cullen's arms as he caught her.

"Calm down and save your strength, you've been out for a while now..." Dorian suggested as Cullen helped her back to sit on the bed. He didn't want to say it'd been a few days since the incident.

"Out for a while? Ah! Where's Julius!?" Abigail suddenly realized she hadn't seen him yet.

"He is... still dreaming." Solas said rather flatly as he stood aside to reveal Julius still lying on the couch, deep in slumber.

"When will he wake up?" Abigail questioned.

"He is lost, we do not know when or if he will find his way back." Solas admitted plainly.

"Hearing how you found your way back might help us discover a way to bring him back." Dorian suggested.

"I... I heard a voice call my name..." Abigail began, and Cullen blushed standing behind her as Dorian leveled his gaze at the ex-Templar. Dorian was now sure there was something there between them, something more than respect.

"I know what to do! I can bring him back!" Abigail suddenly burst, startling everyone in the room as she jumped up and rushed to her brother's side. Putting her marked hand on the side of his face, she focused, saying, "Julius, come back!"

Her hand glowed brightly and then faded, Julius gasping awake, horror in his eyes.

"Wha- Where!?" Julius exclaimed, jumping up and spinning to the side.

"We're back at Skyhold, the real one." Abigail explained.

"Fuck." Julius cursed, he held his head in his hands.

"Thank the Maker you're both safe!" Cullen exclaimed then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay? What did you see?" Abigail questioned Julius, he looked very shaken.

"I... I saw Anders." Julius only told half the truth of what he saw.

"Wait, Anders? As in, _**the**_ Anders? The mage?" Cullen questioned, he of course was the only one who knew the name off the top of his head.

"Yes. Hawke brought him to Ferelden after the explosion." Julius explained, relieved there would be no other questions as to what he saw, though he couldn't make eye contact with Cullen yet.

"Ferelden. That makes sense, in a way. I'm surprised we didn't think of that sooner." Cullen huffed under his breath, Anders' connection to the queen was a factor even Leliana had overlooked.

"What did you see, dear girl?" Dorian asked, after having observed that she had not said anything besides needing to tell King Alistair something.

"I, uh, I saw a burning castle... The heraldry of the castle was two laurels in a circular pattern over blue." Abigail didn't want to divulge all that she had seen, it wasn't her place to say some of those things.

"Two laurels over blue? You can't be... " Cullen looked shocked as he questioned it.

"It's a Ferelden heraldry, but which noble house does it belong to?" Julius puzzled, his memory of Ferelden heraldry failing him for a moment.

"The heraldry of Highever? You saw the burning of Cousland Castle!? That was just before the Blight, that is the event that was the catalyst for how Lady Cousland became a Grey Warden, and eventually Queen of Ferelden..." Cullen continued his thought, maybe all that Solas said about a Fade spirit telling him of things wasn't all bullshit.

"It seems you were able to seek out a great deal of information in the Fade." Solas seemed pleased by the unintended results.

"Yes, and now that I know how to pull Julius back, I can show him how to use the Anchor to pull me back for next time!" Abigail joyously exclaimed, which drew a very stern face from Cullen.

"No. You will not test this experiment out again." Cullen refuted, waving his hand downward dramatically.

"If we only go one at a time then it would be safe." Abigail defended.

"No. Exploring the Fade and talking to demons is never safe, especially not now. The Veil is thin, the risk of becoming an abomination is too great! We almost lost you both! Thank the Maker we didn't!" Cullen countered, his tone harsh.

"Abigail, I agree with the Commander, I think these explorations are best shelved for now." Julius stepped in, he was not keen on all he had seen, but he did know the value of the knowledge they could potentially gain. He also knew, however, there would never be any convincing Cullen, so best to agree with him and carry out the dreaming in secret.

"But there is so much we could learn, Julius! Maybe we could even remember what happened at The Temple of Sacred Ashes and what happened to The Divine!" Abigail pleaded, but her efforts fell on deaf ears.

"At what cost would you risk that knowledge!?" Cullen inquired aggressively.

"What risk? I know better than to be possessed! I can-" Abigail countered, Dorian held his hand up to try to intercede, he could see this was not going to end well.

"No mage is ever safe from possession! It is a threat you all possess!" Cullen shot back before he had thought over his words completely.

Abigail just shook her head slightly as he said it, tears welling in her eyes, she turned and ran from the room.

"I'll go after her." Dorian stated as he left.

"Maker's breath..." Cullen cursed, as he turned and held both hands behind his head, then threw them to his sides in an exasperated manner, he then stormed off to his office.

"Solas, we will continue this later, but next time, we need better preparation." Julius stated, and Solas raised his eyebrow at the Inquisitor's duplicity.

"So it seems." Solas agreed, he was eager, also apprehensive, to see how far into the Fade the twins could get, especially here.

Josephine and Leliana

"It seems the Inquisitors are feeling better." Josephine remarked as she observed Abigail walking along the walls with Dorian.

"Oh? Then maybe we can ask them the real reason for their sudden illness." Leliana commented, as she went through her reports in the rookery.

"You don't think the Commander was lying to us, do you?" Josephine inquired, her eyebrow raised.

"Surely you don't believe he was telling the truth?" Leliana responded, giving Josephine a glance.

"Well, no. Not entirely. I do believe they were ill, but I cannot say that I believed it to be bad food." Josephine relented.

"Of course. I'm just curious as to why the Commander thought it best to work in secret with Solas and Dorian on something, and why he would hide it from us." Leliana replied.

"I am sure I do not want to know how you know about him working with those two. And I am almost certain I do not want to know the reason why he was either." Josephine admitted.

"Well, would you like to know about the information you requested? That is why you are here, correct?" Leliana stated, she knew it was.

"Yes. What have you found?" Josephine didn't try to mince words.

"It seems the Lady Mauvais traveled to the Trevelyan estate quite often, though under the guise of Lady Faussete'. It appears she began to visit when Julius was around 8, and multiple times a year. Which, oddly, is just after the time Abigail was sent to the Ostwick Circle, in fact, she first appeared roughly 4 months after that. I wonder about the correlation there... I also wonder about the correlation between that and Adan's previous findings... " Leliana questioned, the last part mostly to herself.

"Intriguing, but it does not offer any solid facts. Do you know what she was doing during her visits?" Josephine was now more curious, as was Leliana.

"Not yet, but I have sent agents to inquire further. Hopefully some information can be gathered from the servants at the estate." Leliana confirmed.

Abigail

"Dorian, how would you go about telling someone something, even though you aren't supposed to know about it?" Abigail inquired, they were out on the ramparts, him leaning against the half wall, her sitting on the half wall swinging her legs back and forth over it.

"Well now, that is a question! What juicy gossip do you have?" Dorian smirked, but grew more serious as Abigail hung her head, she was sincere.

"I saw a letter, I didn't see what it said, but in the Fade, I saw a letter, it was for King Alistair, from the Queen, but it got lost and hidden away, he never got to see it. I feel like it might be important." Abigail continued, trying not to give too much personal information away.

"Ah, that would be a conundrum. Especially given what we overheard recently." Dorian agreed, stroking his mustache, then he continued, "What if you had Leliana send an agent to pick up the letter? Then it could be delivered to him here, no?"

"But, wouldn't the agent read it?" Abigail asked, though she knew the answer already.

"Most likely. But who is to say someone hasn't already?" Dorian suggested.

"They haven't. I feel it." Abigail stated, putting her hand over her heart.

"You know, I can't say I completely disagree with the Commander. There was a time where it seemed like we wouldn't be able to pull you back, in fact had he not been there, we may not have." Dorian changed the subject, he was worried how much her journey in the Fade had affected her or would continue to.

"What did he do? How did he help call me back?" Abigail was puzzled now.

"That isn't for me to say, you have to ask him yourself. His office is in that tower, in case you forgot." Dorian teased, waving his hands, then pointing down the ramparts toward Cullen's tower.

"I know that's his office, Dorian." Abigail huffed.

"Oh, my dear girl, do you now?" Dorian taunted evilly. Abigail shook her head in response to Dorian's antics, but smiled just the same. Dorian waved as he wandered back to his post inside the library, his work here was done. Abigail walked slowly up to the door to Cullen's office, her hand clenched into a fist, she held it up, trying to work up the courage to knock on the door. Her mind relayed the argument from earlier, only now her head was filled with all the words she should have said in response. She wanted to scream that mages should be free, make him understand that she was perfectly capable of controlling her own mind, that she wouldn't become an abomination. That men with too much power posed a greater danger than mages. He didn't understand that she was more at risk in the Circle than she was here! Here she was free, she didn't want to escape, to give up, to give in. She wondered why her tears fell so swiftly now. Why did it matter if one man in the Inquisition didn't agree with her or understand her? Why did his opinion matter so much? She stood, frozen, crying bitter tears of anger, until finally, she turned and began to walk away.

Cullen opened his door in time to see Abigail open the door to the rotunda and walk inside. He bit his lip as he thought about how much he wished he hadn't put his foot in his mouth earlier. He saw it, even though she turned and ran quickly, he saw the look of betrayal she had on her face, the tears that streamed down from her eyes, he saw it all.

"You got into a fight with the Canary, eh, Curly?" Varric asked as he approached Cullen, who had paused in his tracks.

"Uh, who?" Cullen inquired, quite dumbfound, Varric's nicknames still confused him on occasion.

"The Canary, Abigail." Varric reiterated and he pointed back with his thumb.

"Why do you ask?" Cullen became suddenly defensive, which Varric knew meant he had definitely gotten into an argument with her.

"Just curious who made the Canary cry is all..." Varric remarked, watching Cullen's face grow hollow with self-loathing, Varric was excellent at interrogating without asking a question.

"Anyhow, I came to get you for Hawke. He got contact from his Warden friend. He's in Crestwood, they're forming up plans in the war room to go there now." Varric concluded. Varric was going to have to sort out what this business was between Curly and the Canary, Liam had told him there was something there, and shit, but he didn't seem wrong.


End file.
